Unanticipated Storms
by MurakazeOri
Summary: Sometimes the fiercest storm is the one you least expect. TentenxKakashi
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I don't own Naruto, wish I did, but I don't. Big Sadface.

* * *

**Unanticipated Storms**

**Chapter 1**

"I really, really hate the rain"

Tenten grumbled aloud to herself as she leapt through the forest on her way home. She was exhausted, filthy, and extremely angry. Her most recent mission, which should have been the simplest, shortest, most basic, mission had turned into a month long trip to hell.

It had all started simply enough, escort a merchant to the closest port city. It was barely a C-Ranked mission, much too easy for a jounin, but she needed a little extra money, and she was bored. Lee and Gai were off on another training mission (which meant they were taking turns climbing up and down mountains) and Neji was off on, yet another, another solo mission. So the 20-year old kunoichi had accepted the mission.

They had set off from Konoha early enough on a bright day, which quickly turned into a cloudy day and then it had started to drizzle. By the next day it turned into a torrential downpour. There were only a day out and she was regretting the mission already.

So, had rained and rained some more, which dampened her senses. Four days from Konoha, they crossed the border. What the merchant had failed to mention when he had signed up for the mission was that he was not just a simple merchant. He was actually taking goods from the mist country and exporting them, and not just any goods, stolen goods. Perfect. She quickly discovered this fact because the instant they left the fire country, they were ambushed by several Mist Shinobi. While they weren't near her skill level, they managed to keep her distracted long enough to snatch her employer and his goods.

She spent the next three weeks tracking them, avoiding patrols, and trying to engage them whenever possible. It quickly became obvious that the ninja that had attacked her were the weakest of the group. There were at least 2 others who rivaled her skills and she was all alone, in unfamiliar territory and It had never once stopped raining. She never before realized just how much she hated the rain until then. Finally, she had managed to figure out a plan and got the merchant back, but the same could not be done for his merchandise.

Once they had arrived at his destination, he informed her that he refused to pay the remaining amount as she Hadn't done her job properly meaning, she hadn't transported his illegal goods. She was blindingly angry, and wanted to do nothing more than to drive a pair of kunai into his eyeballs, but that would do nothing for the reputation of Konoha and she decided to bite her lip, just go home. She hoped one of her friends would be there to take her out for a drink and let her vent her frustrations.

As she jumped from tree to tree she could already imagine the comforts of home that were waiting for her. She desperately wanted to get home to her clean, dry clothes, soft carpeted apartment and most importantly, out of the rain. It was hard to believe that it had rained for almost a month straight, and she decided that if she never saw another drop of it, she'd be happy. Her brown eyes lit up as she started seeing familiar landmarks leading towards home, and it wasn't long before the walls of the Hidden Village of Leaf came into view. She had never been so happy to be home.

The rain had slowed to a drizzle by the time she reached the gates. The two guards that were posted there greeted her with a wave and informed her that the Hokage wanted to see her, the instant she got back. She winced, knowing that she was long overdue and that probably meant she was in for a reprimand. Sighing, and thinking longingly of her apartment she managed to drag herself to Tsunade's office, barely seeing the city around her as she walked.

"Tenten! Come in." she heard Tsunade's impatient tone from the other side of the door that Shizune had just disappeared behind. The brown-haired kunoichi pushed open the door and walked inside, moving to stand in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Hai, Hokage-sama"

"I understand you ran into some trouble on your most recent assignment"

_Understatement of the year_, Tenten grumbled mentally

"I suppose so"

"The merchant was transporting goods stolen from the Mist Country", it wasn't a question, and she winced under the disapproving gaze of the blond-haired senin.

"Hai Hokage-sama"

_How does she know that when I haven't been back for five minutes?_

"I would have expected you to be able to handle the situation, but it seems I was mistaken, however, considering it was originally a C-ranked mission, I can't really blame you for being surprised at encountering resistance" the Hokage was watching her with calculating eyes that Tenten didn't seem to notice.

"My apologies Hokage-sama, while I did manage to retrieve the client, his merchandise was lost, I apologize for my failure." said Tenten, trying to cover the shame in her voice, she didn't fail missions, she had come such a long way in recent years, she'd become one of the most reliable combat shinobi in Konoha.

"No matter, regardless of what the client wanted, our relations with the Mist Village are strained to say the least at the moment, its best that they got their goods returned in the end. That, however, is not why I called you here. I have another mission for you." Tenten tried to show no emotion at the news, she had just gotten home, but she was dead tired, still drenched and she was getting another mission. Could her life get any worse?

"You will be going undercover" Tsunade said as she handed a scroll to Tenten,

_Great, I just looooove undercover missions_

The weapons expert tried to keep herself from rolling her eyes as she unwound the scroll and glanced over the content getting the basics. She would be going undercover to gather information about a group of missing nin who had taken over a small city just outside the far north border of the fire country. She would be working in a team, posing as a married couple, she was a dancer, she grimaced a bit at that. She assumed her partner would be Neji, he usually was on assignments like this. She was so absorbed in reading her mission details she barely caught what Tsunade said next.

"With Hatake Kakashi" Tenten looked up, and stared in shock.

"W-What?"

"You will be going with Hatake Kakashi, did I stutter?" the, blond haired Hokage asked with a bit of an edge.

"Well, no, but umm, why isn't Neji going with me? I mean we usually work together on these sorts of things and well isn't Kakashi a bit old for me and isn't he busy and I just got back and I'm not even good at these sort of missions, wouldn't it be better if someone else did it?" she said in the space of less than 3 seconds, desparately trying to get out of going on a mission with of all people, one of the worst perverts in all of Konoha. She didn't even want to THINK about what he would try if he was posing as her husband.

"To answer your questions, Neji is on another mission at the moment, Kakashi is only eleven years older than yourself, nothing so unusual there, he has also recently returned from a mission, and and there are no other kunoichi without a mission at the moment, so you will be going, deal with it, you'll be leaving in two days." Tsunade informed her in a voice that left no chance for argument.

* * *

Two hours later found her seated on the floor of Sakura's apartment, with a beer in her hand, watching the other girl run around her apartment, throwing items into her bag as she prepared for a mission of her own. They were on their own, as it seemed that the Hokage was actually telling the truth about there being no other kunoichi in town, both Ino and Hinata were deployed on missions with their team, and Sakura was leaving too.

"I can't believe she'd do that to you!" The pink haired kunoichi yelled from her closet, as she tossed out a set of clothing.

"Well, she said there was no one else, but honestly I think its punishment for screwing up my last mission" Tenten replied, as she pressed the cool glass of her beverage against her forehead.

"I wouldn't be surprised, that woman has a bit of a sadistic streak", she added thoughtfully

"That's an Understatement"

"I suppose so, but at least this mission you won't be getting rained on a muddy anymore, that's a plus, isn't it?"

"I guess, but somehow, having to pretend your sensei is my husband somehow makes rain and mud seem somehow more attractive" she sighed again, dreading her next assignment, not only did she have to pretend Kakashi was her husband, a feat she could not imagine, she had to pretend to be a feminine, meek … dancer. What the hell kind of profession was that? She supposed it would help explain the way she moved, most civilians didn't move with the level of comfort with their own bodies. It would probably be the best way to cover up something she couldn't hide.

"Well, I mean, Kakashi-sensei isn't all that Unattractive, I mean I guess when you're used to staring an Neji-kun all the time he may not seem that attractive in comparison, but at least its not Lee!"

Tenten shuddered at the momentary mental image of her posing as Lee's wife, the wrongness of it caused her brain to shut down for a second.

"Ew. Sakrua that's just wrong"

"What part?"

"You know what part,"

"Yeah, sorry for that" the other girl said as she finished putting her supplies in a pack. "Well I'm done here now, all ready for the morning, shouldn't you be getting packed for your mission?"

"Tsunade said my wardrobe would be provided for me, whatever that means" she said with a sigh

"It means she doesn't trust your fashion sense" stated Sakura matter-of-factly.

"Oh," Tenten said dumbly, then looked down at herself "What's wrong with my clothes?"

"Oh nothing, if you're planning on running around throwing knives at boys"

"Well… that's what I-"

"Yes I know, but that's not what you're _supposed_ to be doing, honestly you're 20 years old, you really should grow out of this tomboy thing at some point"

"Right." said Tenten with a grimace, it wasn't that she didn't like being a woman, she just never had the time or desire to act like one, training always seemed more important. In fact, whenever a shopping trip was suggested by Ino and Sakura she _always_ managed to be as far away as possible.

"I really should be better at this stuff by now, I mean this isn't my first undercover mission"

"Well, it isn't, but you're used to working with your team, an not as so much of a girly girl, and pretending to be with _Neji_ which I would think would be much easier than pretending to be with Kakashi-sensei. What's with you and Neji anyway, he's been gone a lot lately, I thought you were … you know"

Tenten sighed, she knew the other girl was prying for new gossip to share with Ino, between the two of them those girls new every piece of juicy news there was in Konoha.

"Its nothing, I think I was starting to get through the ice-wall, after that mission a couple of months ago, you remember when I was injured? Well, he stayed with me, but I don't know, I **do** have feelings for him, but I don't know if I want to keep getting hurt until he finally figures himself out." She sighed and rubbed her temples. The past years with Neji had been getting progressively more difficult. She had liked him since they were first put on a team together, who wouldn't? He was the model of heart-throb, good looking, intelligent, not to mention a shinobi genius. He was cold at first, but after his defeat by Naruto in the chunin exams, he had warmed up significantly, and they had become very good friends.

Now it seemed like they waded somewhere in the murky waters between attraction, teammates, friendship, a sibling-like relationship, acquaintances and lately all out ignoring. "All in all, I would describe it as… complicated, and I don't know if I want complicated, you know?"

"Tenten, you're talking to ME, I know all about complicated!" Sakura replied with a half grin.

Tenten was glad her friend had matured some about her stubborn infatuation with Uchiha Sasuke, but she never understood why the girl loved someone who obviously did not have an interest in a relationship with her, whatever his reasons.

"I suppose you're right," she sighed and pulled herself up from the floor.

"You ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm starved"

She'd only momentarily stopped by her apartment to change and shower before heading out to find someone to let her blow off some steam and she had yet to eat, so she'd talked Sakura into joining her for a 'last meal' before they both headed out on separate missions.

* * *

Reviews make me a happy Panda.


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

A/N: Y'know, I still don't own Naruto, very sadface still.

* * *

**Unanticipated Storms**

**Chapter 2**

As Tenten and Sakura walked to a nearby café she couldn't believe the feeling of dread that had settled in the pit of her stomach. Her nerves never gave her trouble on missions, she was a professional ninja. A stupid thing like having to pretend Hatake Kakashi was her husband should not be making her this nervous. After rolling the thought around in her head as they walked down the puddle lined street she decided it was just because it was so out of the blue, so unexpected. Yes, that was it, unexpected so it was only natural it was taking her some time to adjust to the idea.

She really had only seen the copy ninja fight on a few occasions, and she doubted he had ever seen her fight with the exception of her embarrassing defeat in her first chunin exams, and doubted he remembered her at all from their brief encounters over the years. The reasons for the Hokage sending them on a mission like this now with no training time together was beyond her comprehension. Maybe they were lacking more shinobi than she realized.

The entire conversation as they walked to the café was one sided. Sakura told her about her next mission, she was off to meet up with a medical nin who had be doing some research into new ways to knit bones that had be sliced with chakra. Tenten genuinely tried to keep up with the medical terminology, but after a few minutes, she just gave up and let Sakura go on explaining the details. Letting her mind wander as she observed the passing street.

The pair of kunoichi strolled into the less than busy café and took a booth after waving at one of the waitresses. The girls frequented the restaurant that was a popular spot with most shinobi and most servers knew them on sight. As they looked over the menus that both knew by heart Tenten's eyes scanned the room, it was much less busy than it would normally be at this time. 6pm was dinner time and the little café was always packed.

"I guess she wasn't lying about there being nobody else in the village"

"huh?" Sakura said her pink head popping up from behind the menu, she glanced around the café. "Yeah, I guess you're right, strange" she shrugged and went back to looking at her menu.

They ordered their drinks, the same as usual after a stressful mission, soda and sake. While they were perusing the menu, the glass door opened again and two more shinobi entered the little restaurant. Two very green clad, very loud shinobi. Tenten groaned and slid down in her seat. She liked her team, she really did. Lee was like a little brother and Gai… well Gai was Gai. They were like her family, but that didn't mean she wanted them to have an udon eating contest while screaming at each other. She was trying to de-stress before going on yet another stressful mission.

She hoped that they had not noticed her and it seemed that her prayers had been answered as they walked further into the café. However her hopes were dashed when Sakura stood up and called them over. Tenten shot her pink-haired friend a look sharper than any kunai.

"What?" Sakura said sweetly when she caught the weapon mistress's look.

Tenten rolled her eyes and pressed the palms of her hands against her face with a groan. "Why me?" she muttered to herself.

"Oh Tenten! How is our youthful flower today?! I did not see you there!" Lee exclaimed excitedly as he plopped down in the seat next to her.

"Hi Lee, Hi Gai-sensei, I'm great, just... great, " she mumbled, too tired to deal with Lee's level of enthusiasm without backup, where was her human glacier when she needed him?

"That is wonderful to hear, Tenten! We have missed you in practice lately! You should come practice with us tomorrow. Gai-sensei has taught me a wonderful new technique"

"Yes, Tenten, join us tomorrow and see Lee's youthful new technique it will surely cheer you up" said Gai, she wondered if he was more observant than she would have originally guessed.

"Sorry guys, I have a mission, I've got to prepare, if it were any other time, I would have loved to." She lied through her teeth.

Training with Lee and Gai was something she did occasionally, but over the past few years she'd either train alone or with Neji . She just couldn't handle walking 300 laps around Konoha on her hands. Or the pushup competitions, after many years it had just gotten to be too much. However, at the moment she would gladly do 400 laps while singing the praises of youthfulness if it go her out of her current mission.

"I am saddened to hear that Tenten, what kind of mission?" Lee asked enthusiastically.

Sakura thankfully interrupted their line of questioning by asking Lee about his new technique, leaving Tenten off the hook, she shot Sakura a thankful look and returned her eyes to her menu. Sakura, who was now realizing exactly what she had gotten herself into in calling Tenten's two teammates over, was trying desparately to talk the two taijitsu experts out of the idea of training with her after dinner. With perfect timing the waitress interrupted the two green spandex wearing shinobi who's conversation was reaching near, painful volume. They ordered the meals without too much trouble, and then they waited.

It had taken years for Tenten to build up an immunity to her cheerfully loud teammate's enthusiasm but tonight all those years of practice were doing her little good, her head hurt, she was hungry and more tired than she wanted to admit. She listened quietly to the banter between her teammates and Sakura's attempts to engage them in actual conversation, but her head kept drooping every so often and her eyes hadn't felt so heavy in years.

Before their drinks got there her forehead was on the table.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi strolled down the puddle lined sidewalk with his dark eye trained on his newest Icha-Icha book on his way to get some dinner. Having returned from a mission the day before he was well rested and very pleased at his discovery that a new edition of his favorite book series had been released while he was away from Konoha.

He turned the corner and walked towards a local café that he had become fond of. They had great noodles, and the waitresses wore short skirts and didn't mind if he sat there for hours avoiding doing actual work. Yes, one of his favorite places to eat, he just hoped he didn't run into anyone he knew so he could enjoy his new book.

As he pressed his gloved hand against the door to open it, he instantly regretted his choice in restaurants. The unmistakable voice of Gai, his self proclaimed rival assaulted him before he'd even set foot in the door.

"My Eternal Rival!" roared Gai before the silver haired shinobi could manage to escape unseen. He was just about to form a seal and escape when the door was pulled all the way open and he found himself bodily dragged to a table. He sighed, well, he didn't escape this time but at least he would eat.

His eye scanned the faces at the table, he raised his hand in greeting "Sakura, Lee and …" he glanced at the twin bunned head that was pressed at an odd angle against the table.

"That is my team's youthful flower Tenten, you remember her, she's called the Konoha's Weapon Mistress!" Gai said helpfully.

"She's just back from a long mission" Sakura added, explaining the soft snoring he heard coming from brown-haired weapons mistress.

Kakashi laughed quietly under his mask at the girl's ability to sleep through Lee and Gai, an admirable skill to say the least. He pulled up a chair to the end of the table, opened his book and appeared to start to read despite Gai's best attempts to engage him in conversation or competition, which really were the same thing when it came to Gai. He spent the time waiting for the waitress to come back studying the sleeping girl sitting next to Gai's student.

It took him a few moments to remember why the name _Tenten_ was so familiar, finally it dawned on him as Sakura was talking about upcoming missions that Tenten was the kunoichi with whom he was to go on a mission with this week. He had almost forgotten he had a mission this week, well, at least he knew who she was now, sort of, he had yet to see her face as it was hidden by the edge of the table.

It was only when a steaming bowl of udon appeared in front of her, that Tenten stirred and her mahogany eyes stared listlessly at the bowl of noodles in front of her. She mumbled something under her breath that he couldn't hear and reached for her chop sticks. She dug into her bowl without looking around, nor acknowledging the conversation (and noodles thanks to Lee and Gai) flying around her. She didn't even notice he was there.

Tenten looked up when she was halfway through her bowl at Sakura who seemed to be talking to someone who surprisingly did not respond with a shout in between bites of her chicken dish. Tenten sighed, poured herself a cup of sake and then poured the liquid down her throat before she turned to see who the new arrival was. Through bleary eyes she saw silver hair, a green vest, and a headband that drooped over one eye.

Her brown eyes widened and started coughing, nearly choking on her sake. She sat there for a minute trying to remember how to breathe and when she finally stopped coughing she glanced around at the rest of the occupants at the table, they were all looking at her with expressions that ranged between concern and amusement.

"What?" she asked, looking around.

"Tenten, are you ok?" Gai asked, watching his former student, who simply nodded, groaned and glanced back at the table, as though she were considering hiding underneath it.

Kakashi was having a hard time restraining a laugh as he watched the girl wake up, look at Sakura, then him, and then nearly choke herself to death in surprise. _I guess she's read the mission summary_ the mused to himself. He took stock of the girl who he was supposed to be married to starting tomorrow.

She had brown hair, brown eyes, nothing too spectacular, pretty, but normal. Perfect for a ninja, she could fit in most places, but be easily forgettable. However, right now, her appearance was anything but forgettable. Her dark brown hair which, from what he vaguely remembered was usually tied up in neat knots were coming loose falling out into a frizzy mess, there was a bit of sake running down her chin, and she had a great big crease running across her forehead and part of her cheek from sleeping on the edge of the table, a feat he still wasn't sure how she managed.

"Hi, Tenten-san" he said finally, breaking the silence

She stared at him like he was from another dimension for a moment before responding.

"Uhh uhhmm Hello Kakashi-san" the table fell dead silent again before everyone returned to their meals, feeling the awkwardness emanating from the two new partners.

"So," said Sakura "You two are going on a mission together soon, right?"

"Yes we are, Sakura" Kakashi responded quickly, glancing over at Tenten who's response was a mortified grumble.

"That's great Tenten! You can learn much from Kakashi-sensei! Though Gai-sensei is better, I'm sure you'll come home with many more youthful experiences!" added Lee, Tenten winced at Lee's exuberance but rearranged her face in a smile that didn't touch her eyes.

"I'm sure I will, Lee, I should get home and get prepared then, huh?" she responded in a much cheerier voice than she felt.

"Yes, of course! Its important to be prepared!!" Lee responded as he turned back to his meal.

Tenten scarfed down the rest of her meal and downed her sake in record time, anything to get out of there faster. She could not believe she'd made such a fool of herself. There was no reason to be akward or stupid about this. Kakashi was Sakura's sensei, she'd heard all about him and while he was a pervert, he was a good ninja and he would be a professional, _right?_

She somehow didn't believe herself even as the thoughts formed. _Yeah right, Tenten, you moron, this just means you have to get the mission accomplished quickly before he gets any bright ideas_.

They were staring at her again, she realized she had just chugged an entire bottle of sake, she gently set it back down on the table, empty as it was, and smiled sheepishly.

"Well, I'll talk to you all tomorrow, ja!" she said, before dropping some cash on the table and climbing over the back of the booth to get out and avoid making anyone move, or getting any closer to Kakashi.

The rest of the table stared after her as she went, not quite sure what to make of her spectacular exit. Kakashi wondered why he of all people was paired with an apparently narcoleptic, alcoholic, weapon loving psycho. This mission was either going to be horrible or the most fun he'd had in a long time.


	3. Chapter 3

I own nothing, still sad about it, but reviews make me happy.

* * *

**Unanticipated Storms**

**Chapter 3**

Tenten trudged back to her apartment, ignoring the sunset that lit the sky on fire, her eyes fixed securely on the ground. She didn't even look up to cross streets, her feet knew exactly where she was going, so why bother looking at the scenery.

As she walked, she enjoyed the slight tingling sensation that always developed around the edges of her vision and the tips of her fingers when she drank that much sake that quickly. Sake also had the annoying side effect of making her think. She had always prided herself on her unshakable ability to deal with all situations with unflappable poise and a smile, no one ever suspected that most of the time she wanted to hit Lee and scream in frustration at Neji.

She took the ninja rulebook seriously; showing true emotions were a sign of weakness. This was something she took to heart; however, unlike many of her male counterparts she didn't interpret that to mean she always had to be silent and brooding. She hid behind a smile and a pleasant expression. No one ever expects the girl who is smiling in the back of the room to come up behind you and slit your throat. She found a persona a long time ago and she stuck with what worked.

Though, sometimes she wondered if she missed out because of it. Was life better if one occasionally punched one's teammates, as Sakura tended to do, or flirted shamelessly like Ino? Was it better to spiral into fits of rage or uncontrollable bouts of joy? She didn't know, she'd never tried because she had always been told that as a girl with no notable family she had to work twice as hard to keep up with other ninja. Well she was a woman now, one of the strongest kunoichi in Konoha but she felt empty, exhausted and confused.

While musing on the subject she glanced up and realized her feet had betrayed her, she hadn't arrived home; she had arrived at her usual training field. Well, it was sort of like home, almost more like home than the beige carpeted white walled apartment in which she lived.

The ground was filled with small holes from her weapons, and perfectly circular craters from Neji's defensive techniques. She wandered through the grass for a while before sitting down at the edge of the practice field on the roots of a tree and turned her eyes upward, and watched as the last rays of the sun slipped below the horizon, she slipped off to sleep again as the first stars started to appear.

As soon as Tenten made her escape, Kakashi's curiosity took over, he finished his meal quickly, though not quite as quickly as the weapons mistress had. He didn't think anyone could eat faster than Naruto, but that girl had proven him wrong. He was out the door before everyone else had gotten their money out to pay, disappearing after saying something about reading time, which earned him an eye roll from Sakura.

He exited the café and picked up the trail of his quarry, if he was going to be spending the next several weeks with this girl, he should get to know some of her habits, so as not to be caught off-guard at any other odd habits she had; apart from sleeping on tables and chugging whole bottles of sake.

He found her walking down the center of the sidewalk with her eyes trained on the sidewalk, apparently deep in thought. He stayed far enough back as to not disturb her and was disappointed to find that she was not walking towards anything even mildly interesting, she was headed for the practice fields, which he thought was odd, considering that she had just fallen asleep, he didn't think that training would be on her agenda. _Strange girl. _He thought to himself again.

He watched from behind a tree as she circled the field and sat beneath a tree, it wasn't long before she fell asleep again. "My partner is the _Narcoleptic Ninja, great." _he said quietly to himself. He was about to turn and wander off when the skies opened again and a drizzle started, he put a hand over his head and started to hurry to shelter, but then turned back, noticing the brown haired ninja under the tree hadn't yet stirred, and if Gai and Lee's shouting match hadn't woken her, a little thing like hypothermia probably wouldn't either. He needed a healthy partner, even if she was a little strange.

He stealthily approached his target from across the field, masking his chakra and moving silently. She was asleep, so he wasn't even sure why he was sneaking, but he was. When he was a few feet away, and noticed she was completely out, he walked up to her the rest of the way, unmasking his chakra and watched her, she didn't even stir at his approach. _She must be really, really tired_ He thought to himself as he leaned down to look at her.

Tenten shivered and sleepily rubbed her arms, with her eyes still closed she shifted her weight, trying to figure out why her bed was so lumpy, uncomfortable, and tree-like. Then she felt a rain drop land squarely on her head and realized that her bed –was- a tree and that she was outside and she thought to herself, _I must have dreamed that I got home last night_. She opened her eyes and let out a shriek, she was sitting face to face with Hatake Kakashi, who was bent at the waist looking at her.

"Yo" he said, raising his hand

She scrambled a few feet back and managed to get to her feet, ungracefully, but quickly. She realized that she had not dreamed that she got home; she had just stupidly fallen asleep in the roots of a tree next to a field.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she asked,

"I was walking by, you were sleeping and it was raining, didn't think you wanted to sleep in the rain"

"Oh, right, umm.. I'll be going now, bye" she mumbled as she took off across the field, determined to get home and not make more of a fool of herself than she had already.

He watched her run off with a grin and put his hands in his pockets and slowly wandered home, unhurriedly despite the rain.

As the first rays of sunlight crept into Tenten's plain apartment she woke to find that her bed was actually a soft, unlumpy decidedly un-treelike queen sized bed. In fact her bed was not a tree at all, it wasn't a tree or a mound of dirt, or a rocky little cave. She was home and she had slept in a real bed for the first time in weeks. She smiled to herself and curled herself around her pillow, luxuriating in the fact that she was comfortable, warm and dry. She hadn't embarrassed herself yet today and she had a whole day before she had to start her new mission.

Her mission.

Why did she have to think about that? Why? She was so happy thinking about her blankets and pillows and pajamas but now she was thinking about being a feminine girl and having to deal with Kakashi as her husband who had found her sleeping out in the rain like an idiot last night. Why had she even _gone _to the field in the first place? It must have been a combination of exhaustion and a full bottle of sake.

Yawning, she pulled herself out of bed, well at least she could enjoy one day before her next hell-like mission started. Sure she had to prepare a bit for her mission, but that couldn't take long, and she needed a break. Looking at her clock she read the digital numbers 6:30, she hated the fact that she was an early riser, she never liked that her body refused to allow her to sleep for more than 7 or 8 maybe 9 hours if she was really lucky. People who could sleep for hours and hours without waking up or feeling restless baffled her and made her very jealous.

Within ten minutes she was showered, dressed, she scoured her cabinets; her only option was dry cereal. Most of her other food looked too dangerous to eat. One of the many hazards of the life of a ninja was coming home to a refrigerator full of spoiled food and an empty stomach.

She had thought about cooking eggs, but those were about a week out of date, and she just wasn't brave enough to try it. With her box of cereal in her hand and a glass of tap water, Tenten made her way to her cushy sofa.

She slowly popped bits of cereal into her mouth as she pulled open her mission scroll and read over the details of her upcoming mission.

_Ranking: A-Rank_

_Mission Synopsis: Gather information on missing-nin takeover of the city of Uruko. Heavy enemy patrols in area have prevented ANBU assessment. If gathered intelligence makes applicable, disrupt any plans regarding Konoha. Upon arrival contact: Hume Yoshiro for further instruction._

_Mission Length: As per mission leader Mission leader's assessment_

_Undercover information:_

_Code Name: Mitsumoto Tekiko_

_Profession: Dancer_

_Back story: Recently married to Mitsumoto Yasuo. Visiting extended family in area, vacation._

"Wow, descriptive," she muttered. Most mission reports were a little less vague, there was no time range, they could be gone for three days or three months according to was usually at least some intelligence, but considering they were going undercover TO gather intelligence it made sense there wouldn't be much yet.

So she spent the rest of the day relaxing, and doing things around her apartment, she cleaned out the dangerous fridge and packed for the trip, though she didn't need much besides her weapons, as her wardrobe would be provided for her. Most of her day off was spent organizing, cleaning and polishing her prized weapons before packing up her bag and heading off to pick up her clothes for the mission.

Late in the afternoon, arrived outside the Hokage's office she was surprised to see two very large suitcases waiting for her. Shizune popped her head out of the office and informed her that they had been waiting for her all morning and those large suitcases were all for her.

"Are those all clothes?" she asked with dread, though she already knew the answer.

"Of course" came Shizune's crisp response.

"There is nothing else… like a library or maybe an elephant in them?" asked Tenten, eyeing the formidable bags.

"Nope, those are your wardrobe", Shizune responded

"But"

"No buts! You're a girl, and you WILL act like one" came an annoyed should from behind the door. She watched the Hokage's assistant wince, then give Tenten a pointed look and disappeared back behind the doors, closing them behind her. This left Konoha's weapon's mistress alone in the hall with two very large bags filled with more clothing than Tenten ever imagined possessing.

Once she made it back to her apartment, dragging the two giant bags behind her, the rest of the evening went smoothly enough. Tenten managed to find plenty of places to hide her weapons collection among the various clothing options, hair pins, belts, shoes, and much to her dismay, underwear, provided for her. So with one final look at her luggage she let down her hair and went to bed.

"This is going to be a _very_ long mission" she whispered to no one in particular as her eyes shut.

* * *

I still like reviews


	4. Chapter 4

Still don't own Naruto

Still sad about no reviews, I know its a weird pairing, but give them a chance :( Hey at least its not like... KisamexLee weird. That would be scary.

* * *

**Unanticipated Storms**

**Chapter 4**

The next morning came all too quickly in Tenten's opinion, why couldn't the hours slow down and let her stay at home, in bed for at least 2 more weeks, long enough for someone else to return and take the stupid, albeit important mission. If the missing nin in the north were planning something against Konoha as was suspected her mission could very well save lives and prevent all out conflict. There was nothing she could do, she'd been ordered and she always followed orders.

Resigned to her fate, she rolled out of bed and after a quick shower, she pulled on some clothing that could double as recon stealth clothing. Baggy black pants and a long sleeved back top that most ninja wore, but was very different from usual colorful ensemble. She pulled her hair up into her buns with practiced ease. She was at the gates of Konoha at 7 am sharp, with her two giant bags and her smaller backpack that happened to be packed full of various ninja tools.

Two hours later, she was getting very angry. Sakura had warned her about Kakashi's tardiness, but she always assumed the other girl was exaggerating; no one could be that late all the time! Besides this was a mission, not just a casual afternoon training session. By ten she was angrier than she thought she could be.

_Why am I mad? I don't even want to go on this mission, why blame him if he doesn't want to go either. She'd just go to the Hokage and explain that Kakashi never showed up_. _Yeah, that'll work_

Just as she turned and started walking back to her apartment, she felt a tap on her shoulder, she whipped around, while pulling a kunai out of the pouch at her hip, and with practiced movement she held it to the neck of the person behind her. As she turned she came face to face with her grinning, silver haired partner.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" she asked, with venom in her voice. Dropping the deadly weapon from its spot at his throat.

"Nope"

She sighed and pushed her frustration back, if she could handle Lee, Gai, and Neji at the same time, she could handle Hatake Kakashi.

Though she didn't know it, Kakashi had arrived a little after 8, but spied her pacing the gates and stopped short. While he was already late, and knew it, it was always good to test out one's team before battle, to see their temperaments and skills. Obviously since she hadn't instantly discovered him, her sensory ability wasn't as good as some other ninjas, according to her file, her battle skills made up for it.

He sat on the edge of a roof in perfect view, if only she'd looked. After more than two hours of reading him he saw that her patience was wearing thin, but it was only after she turned to leave that he hopped down behind her. From the quickness with which she drew her kunai and the look on her face as she held it against his throat, he knew that her file undoubtedly was not exaggerating. Good. He smiled at her and she shot a glare at him. She must have been getting glaring lessons from Hyuuga he mused as she questioned him.

He shrugged off her demanded question with a monosyllable and turned to walk out the gates.

"Umm, excuse me, you are going to be helping with these, right?" gesturing at two large bags.

"What are those for?" he asked

"The Hokage believes I need an absurdly extensive wardrobe, how long is this mission going to last anyway?"

He shrugged at her, amused at the annoyance in her voice, then walked over, picked up one of the bags and pulled it over his shoulder, surprised at how heavy the thing was. He turned and walked through the gates, leaving her to catch up.

Tenten sighed at the response, she wasn't expecting an actual answer, but words would have been nice. She turned, looking back at the village that was her home, and got a bad feeling that she wasn't going to be back here for a very, very long time. With one final, silent goodbye she turned back to the open gates, slung her pack over her shoulder, grabbed her giant suitcase and followed Kakashi out onto the road.

They traveled as quickly as her luggage allowed; neither talking to the other, talking wasn't necessary, they were on a mission and they only needed to talk when it was absolutely required. The silence, however was not the usual comfortable silence that one would experience with teammates or even friends. They were basically two complete strangers who were going to have to pretend to be in love.

After the first few hours of their silent walk, her mind started to wander away from the usual task of keeping her eye on the forest around them. As they walked, Tenten glanced over at her new partner every so often, she had never really studied his face before, he had always been 'Sakura's perverted sensei' in her mind, so she never really bothered looking.

As her brown eyes subtly examined his face, the weapons expert was surprised with what she observed. With what she could see of his face, what wasn't hidden by his forehead protector or mask he had somewhat sharper features than she was used to, but not unpleasantly so.

His wild hair interested her, after spending so long in a team with Lee, who's hair never seemed to move and Neji who's hair was always immaculate, Kakashi's wild silver almost seemed to have a mind of its own. She smiled a bit and wondered absently if it was as soft as it looked. Taken aback she paused, wondering where THAT thought had come from. She snorted a laugh at herself and continued on, speeding up a few steps to keep up the quick pace Kakashi had set for them.

"We're going to be swinging around and entering the area from a different direction, so they don't suspect where we're from" Kakashi informed her as they walked.

"Fine, how long until we start getting close?"

"Umm, a day at least, but I think we should 'get into character' before the next village in case they have spies out that far"

"Hn" she nodded, and wondered when she'd started using Neji-isms

It didn't take them long to come to the next village, and before they got there the pair decided to stop and 'get into character' as Kakashi put it. Tenten dropped her bag in a clearing just off the road, unzipped it and much to her dismay a variety of extremely girly articles of clothing spilled out onto the mossy ground. She hurriedly picked up a few items and slid behind a tree, hoping Kakashi didn't notice any of the embarrassingly lacey undergarments that had been provided for her.

She didn't understand why it was required that she wear the damned things, no one was going to be seeing her in her underwear, right? Orders were orders, and it was required that she dress in wardrobe, so she assumed there had to be a reason for it. Resigned to her fate, she stripped, safe behind a bunch of thick bushes, away from the prying eyes of either anyone on the road or her partner. She hoped.

Kakashi lazily eyed the brown-haired kunoichi as she scrambled around, wondering for the hundredth time why the Hokage had put them together on this mission. Why did they have to be a married couple? Couldn't he go by himself? It would be a hell of lot less awkward, obviously the girl didn't want to be there, and besides she was more than ten years his junior, hardly older than his students.

He sighed and set down the suitcase he was carrying and his own pack, as he rummaged around for his disguise. As he pulled out a new set of clothing, a flash of paleness caught his eye from behind the trees where Tenten had run, perhaps less hidden than she thought.

Try as he might to restrain himself, he couldn't help his curious mind, and old habits and found him stealthily inching his way towards a nearby tree. Using all the stealth techniques he had developed in his years as a shinobi. He managed to get climb to a branch and get to an angle where he could get a halfway decent view, despite some distance and a few very annoying leafy branches in the way.

What he saw astounded him. Tenten, underneath her baggy clothing was actually a woman. Her back was to him, depriving him of the view he found himself wanting more than he should. However, old habits die hard, his uncovered dark eye raked over what he saw, long milky legs tapering into a firm round rear that was covered with a pair of very lacy white panties. His eyes glazed over a bit at the sight: all panties, plain, colorful and exotic were one of his absolute favorite things in life.

As his eyes traveled upward he followed the curve of her back, disappointed at the distance and her angle, if she'd just turn a little bit more he could see the matching bra to go with those lacy white panties he found himself wanting to examine, A LOT closer. He was so absorbed in watching her body, he hardly noticed when she shivered and stopped moving, not a natural pause in movement, she had frozen stiff and was sensing, trying to discern if she was being spied on.

He knew the body language, _Maybe her sensory abilities aren't quite as lacking as I thought…_ he thought to himself as he slowly scooted back along the branch as stealthily as he could. He paused as he reached the trunk of the tree and crouched in there, observing her again. Watched as she shook her head and resumed getting dressed.

Grinning under his mask, he slid down the tree, so her senses weren't that good, she just forgets to look up. He filed that bit of information away for later, perhaps this mission wouldn't be quite as boring as he had first anticipated.

Tenten's eyes widened slightly as she felt a shiver go up her spine, she froze, mid-movement and reached out with her chakra. She could feel someone's eyes on her, it was times like this she desparately wished for the Hyuuga bloodline limit, to be able to see all around her would be very helpful at the moment. She glanced back towards the road and but didn't hear anything. She didn't see Kakashi either. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she watched the clearing, looking for any sign of a the silver-haired shinobi.

_He has to change too, idiot_ her brain rationalized, _he's not going to do it out in the open_.

"Right" she mumbled to herself and put her fears to the back of her mind, she was just jumpy about changing into strange clothes in the middle of the forest. Her eyes scanned the area one last time before she resumed getting changed.

When she finally managed to get herself into her outfit, she struggled out of the bushes and looked into the clearing. There, she saw something she'd never expected. Kakashi, and he was wearing civilian clothing. Simple Black slacks, a slate grey button down shirt, with a brown jacket overtop, which she was sure held more than a few kunai.

What was more alarming was the fact that he was not wearing his black facemask or hitai-ate. His forehead was uncovered and the normal forehead protector was replaced by a simple eye-patch in the same dark grey as his shirt. The lower half of his face was no longer hidden by the skin tight face mask, but obscured by a cleverly arranged scarf. His wild silver hair was pulled back into a very short ponytail. However, the hold whatever product he had used to restrain it was losing a quick battle, pieces were already starting to escape and fall in his face. Tenten doubted if anything could restrain his wild locks for long.

The most surprising thing, however, was the expression on his face. Shock mixed with confusion, approval and something else she wasn't sure she liked. He almost looked … hungry. She tilted her head at him and frowned, when he didn't respond immediately, and continued to stare, she waved her hand in front of his face.

"Kakashi, wake up, we should get moving" she said, resisting the urge to toss a kunai past his head to get his attention, if he didn't already think she was a lunatic, that would do it.

"Huh, what?" he responded

She rolled her eyes and responded in a sardonic tone, "We," she gestured to herself and him "should get moving" as she made a 'walking' gesture with her fingers.

"That's nice miss, but there was a somewhat boyish kunoichi that went into that bush a minute ago, did you see her in there? Could you send her out, we really need to get on with our mission" he said, obviously teasing her.

Kakashi grinned from behind his scarf at the glare he received from the young woman in front of him. He watched her hand go to her hip, where her kunai pouch would usually rest, and encounter only air. He watched the subtle play of emotions that crossed her face: anger (at him), surprise (at the lack of sharp objects), frustration (probably still about the lack of weaponry), and finally anger again at him. Like it was his fault she didn't have a weapon to throw at him.

It also wasn't his fault that he had stared dumbly at her when she had come out from the bushes. Sure he had seen her partially naked from behind, but that didn't prepare him for the way she looked now. He could handle the thought of her in her underwear, he _liked _that thought, he could handle that thought. This however was a different story.

Her long legs were wrapped in a tight, dark khaki skirt, starting just below her knee with a slit cut in one side to allow for easier movement. It somehow managed to accentuate her form without exposing much skin at all. Her shirt was some form of a high class interpretation of a traditional kimono. White, almost sheer material encircled her arms, covering them almost completely, but leaving enough of her forearms visible as to not obstruct her movement. The material crossed in the front, just low enough to tease, beneath her outer shirt she wore a tastefully embroidered white, albeit low cut shirt. Around her long, thin neck she wore a pearl necklace and she had a pearl at each ear to match. Her brown hair, which would normally be up in tight buns was down, cascading to the middle of her back in soft auburn waves.

This was much worse than her walking around in her underwear, this was terrifying. She looked classy and downright _intimidating._

She fixed him with another glare and marched off ahead of him, leaving him standing there with his mouth half open, wondering how in the hell he was going to trick anyone into believing they were married, not when she looked like _that_ and kept glaring at him. This was going to be one long mission.


	5. Chapter 5

Still Don't Own Naruto :(

* * *

**Unanticipated Storms**

**Chapter 5**

Ridiculous. Embarrassed. Humiliated. There were **so** many words Tenten could use to describe the way she felt at the moment. She knew she looked out of place by the way Kakashi, who usually kept a fairly neutral expression, had stared at her, like she was a monster in couture.

She flicked her long hair over her shoulder as she walked, hating how it felt against the back of her neck. _How can people live like this?_ She wondered to herself as she almost jogged down the road leaving Kakashi, and her bags behind. After a few minutes she slowed, realizing that her partner was keeping his distance probably a little more than necessary.

She turned, plastered on a fake smile and said, "I know I look terrible, but that doesn't mean you can avoid me like this", her tone of voice completely contradicting her expression.

"You look fine" he said obviously smiling behind his mask, there was a somewhat playful tone to his voice covering up the undertones of fear.

She sighed and walked back towards him, "I guess I should take one of these, huh?", her anger subsiding somewhat. She reached out and grabbed one of the suitcases from him, maintaining her expression, but avoiding eye contact. With her one bag in hand she started walking down the path again, aware that he was keeping much closer than before.

About a mile outside the small village Kakashi reached into his pocket, his fingers fumbling to reach the small, nearly forgotten box Tsunade had given him along with his mission scroll.

"Ah, almost forgot" he said, causing Tenten to jump a little after the long silence. She turned and looked at him quizzically. "Our costumes aren't complete".

He pulled out the box and opened it, grabbing a small golden band and slipping it onto his left ring finger, he examined it for a moment, deciding quickly he didn't like the weight there. With a lazy expression he tossed the other, slightly smaller ring to the brown-haired kunoichi who caught it easily and slipped it on.

"Right", she mumbled.

"I suppose we should discuss our back story, neh? What is your cover's profession?" she asked looking over at him while he examined the ring further.

"Well, I'm supposed to be some kind of merchant, but I was kind of thinking we'd wing it" he said with a smile

She stared at him in disbelief, _wing it?!_ Her mouth hung slightly open and her head cocked slightly to the side. The one thing she prided herself on was that she was _always_ prepared. She may not have a special ability, or freakish stamina, or a demon inside her, but she was prepared. 'Winging it' simply wasn't in her vocabulary. She tried to form her mouth into words to respond but found no sound escaping her lips.

Grinning at her stunned response, and the priceless look on her face, he started walking again, very pleased with her response. Now knowing one of her weaknesses that he could exploit he thought to himself, _This could actually be fun._

It took the weapons mistress a moment to pull herself back to the functioning world. Well, he may not plan, but she sure as hell would. She rearranged her face into a determined stare at the back of his head. As they walked towards the village she began spinning a story for their lives together. It only took them a short time to enter the sleepy little village, which was about a day's journey to larger town in which their mission was to take place. This would be an excellent place to see if they could even pull off the mission.

As the pair walked into the small village, Tenten could feel many eyes on her, something she was wholly unaccustomed to. Ninja were meant to be shadows, seldom seen or heard, just a blade in the night, they were definitely _not _meant to be gawked at. She found herself walking closer to Kakashi who looked at her out of the side of his eye, without turning his head. Noticing her discomfort, he shifted closer to her and slipped his free arm lazily over her shoulders, causing her to momentarily tense more, then he felt her take a breath and forced herself into a relaxed posture.

"_What are they staring at"_ she hissed in a whisper _"do I look that bad?"_ she looked warily around at the few people on the street, who were doing their best to make their staring obvious, but failing.

"It's a small town _dear,_ they're not used to such beautiful, high class women walking around" he replied, in a voice wholly un-Kakashi-like.

She cocked her head at him for a moment, she didn't expect him to get into character so easily. Everything about him changed the instant they walked into the village, though she hadn't noticed at first. His posture, his gait, his expression, everything was different, with all those changes she couldn't believe the man walking beside her was actually Kakashi the copy ninja. She took a breath and put herself into mission mode, pulling her fake persona on.

Blushing, she looked up at him and batted her eyelashes, smiling sweetly, she shifted the way she moved her hips, exaggerating the motion in a way she'd often observed Ino doing, though personally she tended to minimize the motion that was natural for all females. She leaned in and used her free hand to play with Kakashi's that was resting on her shoulder.

"Of course, love, I forget sometimes" she responded, then sighed, "I'm so tired, are we almost to the hotel?" she asked, adding a bit of a whine to her voice, and pouting up at him.

"The real vacation starts tomorrow, but we're going to be staying in a little in here and go on tomorrow" he said, smiling placatinly. He looked down at her, noticing her pout, he didn't even realize that Tenten's lips could _make_ a pout, much less one that looked so... appealing.

"It had better, I don't like all this walking, my feet are tired! This bag is too heavy, can we please get a porter to take these?" she put shifted the bag to her other arm, pretending that the weight bothered her, when in fact she barely noticed the weight of it.

"You're the one that insisted on both bags, besides, walking is healthy." He said, in a playfully scolding tone.

"I'm in fine shape, and you know exactly what good shape I'm in," she purred and looked up at him with pleading eyes, "I just don't want to ruin my feet with all this walking like a farmer!"

He looked down at her, and blinked at the look in her big eyes, "Fine fine, we're done walking for the day, see? We're at the inn, we'll hire someone to take the bags ahead tomorrow", even if it hadn't been part of the act, he wasn't sure if he could deny her anything with that look on her face.

The 'couple' walked into the small, but well kept inn, Kakashi taking TenTen's bag from her as they walked in and were greeted by the innkeeper.

"Hello, what can I do for you today, sir" said the somewhat portly, balding man behind the counter.

"I'd like a room for the evening, and I'd also like to inquire about a porter service for the morning", Kakashi said in an extremely business-like tone that Tenten didn't know he possessed, she'd heard a lot of things over the years about the copy ninja, and 'businesslike' was never an adjective used to describe him.

"Of course, sir, we can accommodate you on both accounts" the innkeeper said as he looked at his new patrons, his eyes lingering significantly longer on Tenten than her male counterpart. Tenten, for her part was oblivious to the attention. Her dark eyes were examining the surroundings, noting exits, possible improvised weapons, and anything other than how the man behind the counter was looking at her.

Kakashi, however, noticed. He cleared his throat at the innkeeper and fixed him with a steady stare, the man seemed to ignore him. With a frown, the silver-haired ninja cleared his throat again before saying gruffly, "I'd appreciate it if you had someone bring our luggage up to the room while my _wife_ and I get dinner"

The man behind the counter was snapped out of whatever fantasy he was engrossed in and stared at Kakashi for a moment,

"Oh, yes! Of course!" said the chubby man, fumbling behind the desk for a moment before dropping a set of keys in Kakashi's waiting hand, "Your room is the last door on the left on the second floor. If I might recommend a restaurant, its called Ohiru, just up the street. It's the best one in town"

"There are more than one restaurant in this backwater little town?" Tenten added in a waspish tone that caused Kakashi's eyebrows to raise, from all his experiences with the brown-haired kunoichi, she was always very kind, nothing like the tone she was using now. Though, looking at her now, he wouldn't have guessed she'd ever held a kunai in her life, much less bear the nickname of 'Konoha's Weapon Mistress'. He grinned at her.

"Now now, Tekiko-chan, don't be unkind. Some people like the quiet country life" he said, lifting his hands up, in a calming motion.

"Well, this _surprise_ you're taking me to had better be worth it, I'm going now, join me unless you decide you want to stay and become a country bum-kin" she said with a small sniff as she lifted her chin slightly, trying her best to give off the impression of a spoiled, impatient brat. Fixing her hands securely on her hips she strolled out of the inn. She was doing a surprisingly good job of it, as Kakashi noticed the man behind the counter wince at her tone.

"That wife of yours seems like a handful," said the innkeeper, staring at the space where Tenten once was.

"You have no idea, but she _is _worth it" he replied with a knowing grin and winked his dark eye at the man behind the counter, who chuckled somewhat.

Tenten stood in the street, hands on her hips, her foot tapping impatiently and her heart pounding her chest. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down, undercover work was always stressful for her. Normally she could hide behind her façade that showed little emotion, but normal women aren't unflappable, calm and collected they're emotional, irrational and fairly cruel. She looked up suddenly as Kakashi exited the inn and walked up to her, offering her his arm, which she took, forcing herself not to hesitate.

"_Good show back there"_ he whispered out of the corner of his mouth as they walked.

"_Thanks,"_ she said with a small smile. Her confidence returning somewhat, as strange as it was being on a mission with Kakashi, it was nice to have someone who was more experienced with her.

"_So, what's the plan for tomorrow? I still don't know what this place we're going to is", _she asked, looking up at his face.

"_You're not supposed to, but I'll fill you in more later" _he replied, "_For tonight, listen to the conversation, we'll probably get a lot of intelligence from the locals here"_

"_Hai"_ she responded quietly, starting to chew her lip in nervousness, though after a few seconds she mentally slapped herself and willed herself to stop, _beautiful_ _dignified, well bred ladies do not chew on their lower lips!_ She shouted at herself. However, she was none of these things. She was amazingly grateful when they arrived at the small restaurant.

Despite the innkeepers assurance that it was the 'best' in town, she was beginning to doubt if it really did have any competition. The place was clean enough, but the furnishings were worn and were never high quality, even when they were new. Tenten the ninja had no problem with it, but she knew _Tekiko_ would. The pair paused at the entrance and she put her hand on her hip again.

"Yasuo, you have to be kidding" she said, her voice dripping with distain. When Kakashi didn't respond at first, she descreetly elbowed him in the side.

"Hm? oh it'll be fine, I'll buy you whatever you want," he reprimanded half-heartedly, the perfect picture of a husband who didn't want to pick a fight with his hungry, moody wife. "Its not like we have a lot of choices, Tekiko-chan"

She gave a little exasperated sigh "fine", she said and walked to a table, the whole time thinking to herself; _Kami, I want to slap myself._ However, the idea was to make everyone believe they were anything but ninja, and at the moment, she was acting like anything BUT the deadly killer she was. Kakashi followed behind, watching her walk, and unable to keep his eyes from the perfect display of her firm backside. He frowned a bit as she slid into a seat, which was situated in a perfect position to allow them to overhear practically every conversation.

Kakashi joined her at the table and glanced over the menu, barely seeing it as his mind focused on the conversations in the room around them. He was glad that he decided to come out tonight, the information he was gathering would make their job much easier, he hoped. When a middle aged woman came to get their orders, he rattled off the first thing on the menu which his eyes came across, Tenten, however, ordered the most expensive thing on the menu.

They sat quietly, conversing shallowly about their trip, the weather, and other small things, though neither was interested in the conversation, despite their carefully arranged facial expressions and responses. Both shinobi had their focus completely on the conversations flying around them in the restaurant. When their food came, they ate in silence, despite a few complaints from Tenten about the quality of the food, despite the fact that it was, in fact quite good, considering the humbleness of the town.

After the check was paid, they two left and returned to their hotel. Once they reached the room, Tenten walked in, kicked off her shoes and flopped face first on the sizable bed. Kakashi watched the brown hair kunoichi curiously, as he walked to the edge of the bed and sat down. She didn't move immediately, but eventually turned her head towards him and opened one dark brown eye.

"I hate her" the brown-haired kunoichi muttered.

"Who?" he asked, tilting her head to the side.

"You know" she said, turning her head back to the bed.

"Wait one minute," he said and stood up again, walked over to the window and closed the curtains, and then made a slow, careful perimeter of the room. She sat up suddenly, feeling very foolish, realizing that it would be very easy for the enemy ninja to have someone posted outside the inn, listening in on travelers.

"We alone?" she asked, sheepishly, a flush of embarrassment creeping onto her face.

"Yeah" he said, looking back at her, and noticing her blush.

"Sorry, I forgot they could be listening in" she said with a small frown that could be described as a pout, though he liked it a lot more than the one she had given him earlier as Tekiko.

"Don't worry about it, what did you overhear?" he asked, sitting back down on the edge of the bed.

"Well, the group that's taken over the city is definitely starting to reach towards this place, the villagers generally don't like _that_ idea, sounded like there's some kind of patrol or curfew, which means there are enough of them in this organization to actually _do _patrols or maintain a curfew. Something about shipments, Oh, and Shiro is definitely sleeping with Kione." She reported, laughing slightly at her added bit of information at the end.

One of the annoying habits of spending a lot of time with Sakura and Ino was the side effect of being able to tune in completely whenever anyone mentioned anything about relationships. Spying wasn't so much a part of the profession to those girls as much as it was a way of life, and it was sadly rubbing off on her. _Well, sometimes life has a funny way of giving you the skills you need without you ever realizing it._ She thought, smiling to herself.

He blinked at her, she had managed to gather most of the same information as him, though some varied a little bit, PLUS she'd managed to overhear some local juicy gossip, _Who IS this girl?_ He thought to himself, somewhat impressed. He watched her face turn into a secretive smile, wondering what thoughts were running through her head.

While he was thinking, she pulled herself off the bed, rummaged and momentarily rummaged around the one of the suitcases and pulled out some silk pajamas and headed for the bathroom. She closed the door and he could hear the shower running. He moved up to the head of the bed and laid his head down on the pillow, he was almost instantly asleep, dreaming of brown haired girls in exotic panties.

* * *

A/N:

Come one people, review! *sniff*


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: ZOMG REVIEWS! Much love. I know I shouldn't need them... but they make me so happy.

Really enjoying writing this fic, and things should be heating up in the next couple of chapters, ;)

Still Don't Own Naruto.

* * *

_Chink.. Chink.. Chink_

Kakashi's foggy brain slowly registered the clanging sound of metal hitting metal as he pulled himself from a deep sleep. Registering another noise, he smiled to himself. _She's humming_. It was a simple tune, somehow familiar to him, and yet not enough that he could place it. Without moving, he opened his dark eye and found the chestnut haired, pajama clad kunoichi sitting cross-legged on the floor of the hotel room. She had surrounded herself with dozens of kunai, shuriken, and various other small weapons and was meticulously cleaning and sorting them.

Though her head was bent down, concentrating on her work, her body language showed him something he hadn't seen in her the whole time they'd been on this mission together, happiness and contentment. With a smile, he closed his eye again and drifted off again, he'd give her a little while longer with her weapons, and give himself a little longer to sleep.

Tenten had woken up with the dawn as she usually did, and was unsurprised when the silver haired man beside her didn't stir. She crept quietly into the large bed the night before after her shower to find him passed out; she wondered to herself how some people could sleep so soundly despite being on a mission. She rarely slept more than a few hours at a time during missions and rarely deeply.

So she had slept lightly on the opposite side of the bed from Kakashi and woke, feeling as well rested as she could under the circumstances. With a little yawn she went about her usual morning routine which, as always involved taking care of her weapons. Though this morning she knew she probably wouldn't be using any of them, much to her displeasure. Regardless, she spread them out and went to work, humming a wordless tune.

Originally, she had planned to bring all her precious weapons in the large suitcases; however, it seemed that that wouldn't work as they were sending the bags ahead with a porter. If someone were to open one of the bags and discover it crammed full of very sharp ninja weapons their cover would be instantly blown. So she was organizing and preparing to use a scroll to store them until they were needed… well most of them anyway. She'd already set aside a few that she'd hide on her person, she couldn't possibly go unarmed; she'd feel much too naked.

Finishing her work, she stood slowly, stretched and walked to the window. She pulled aside the curtains to allow the morning light to flood the room and smiled softly, though the weather in the north was cooler, it wouldn't be too cold yet as it was still early fall. She turned back and with one glance at the still sleeping Kakashi, she shook her head with a grin, grabbed a change of clothes and headed for the bathroom to change.

By the time she had managed to get ready for the day, Kakashi was awake and ready. Her new morning preparations involved a lot more preparation than her usual routine of: quick shower, hair in buns, training clothes, run out the door. She had to put on another stupidly complicated outfit, do her hair, apply more makeup than she would usually wear in a year, and most importantly secure and hide her weapons.

Feeling thoroughly annoyed at the amount of time it took her to get ready, Tenten was not pleased by the time she exited the bathroom. Shooting Kakashi a look that stopped him opening his mouth before he could comment, she hurried around the hotel room, making ready to head off.

"Ready to go?" he asked once she was finally packed.

"Yeah" she almost growled, putting a wide smile on her face, despite her obvious frustration.

_She must have had to learn to do that to learn to cope with Gai; must be how she's managed to keep some of her sanity,_ he thought as he grabbed the bags and left the hotel.

* * *

The two shinobi easily managed to arrange for someone to bring the bags up to where they would be staying in Uruko. They walked along the road in a somewhat more comfortable silence than they had managed in the past, moving closer together whenever they passed someone on the road, which was steadily becoming busier and steeper.

The city of Uruko was settled in a narrow valley at in the foothills of a sizeable mountain range, with steep rock walls climbing almost vertically from the edges of the small city. Most homes were made of the same blue slate as the rock walls and the dark wood of the surrounding forests. With very little space to build, many homeowners had decided to build up instead of out, leading to many houses nearly built into the side of the cliffs. The whole town sloped upwards with the largest, most expensive looking buildings at the highest points. Once they were just outside the city, which was really more like a large town than a city, much smaller than Konoha, Tenten moved right next to Kakashi and slipped into her 'character'. Grabbing his arm, just above the elbow she leaned in and pressed the side of her head against his shoulder.

"It'll be so great to see Yoshiro again, its been so long!" she said in a cheerily airy tone, "Where did you say he was living?"

"Oh, just up here, very close to the resort" Kakashi replied

"_Resort_ eh? You didn't tell me we were going to a resort, you just said we were going to visit Yoshiro and the rest was going to be a surprise!" she let go of his arm and clapped her hands a little, "What is the shopping like here? What sort of resort is it? Is it a hotspring?" then looking somewhat panicked, she added, "If it's a hotspring I need to go shopping, I only brought two robes, I _have_ to get at least a couple more! What will people think of me wearing the same two robes the whole time we're here?!"

Kakashi stopped in his tracks, staring at the brown haired girl next to him, wondering how it was humanly possible for her to go from a weapon loving, tomboyish kunoichi to a vapid, shallow fashionista in such a short space of time. He shook his head and took her arm again, beginning to walk through the now fairly busy street when he noticed Tenten looking at him with a questioning expression.

"I'm sure there is plenty of shopping, it's quite a high class resort, and of course we'll get you attire that's appropriate, I wouldn't have my wife looking underdressed" he said with a grin "though, at this rate we'll have to get _another_ bag to bring home."

While they were chatting, they entered the city proper. Within moments of entering, Tenten felt a shiver go up the back of her spine, one definitely _not_ caused by the cool air. She stiffened slightly, her fingers gripping onto Kakashi's arm causing him to take note of her posture. _We're being watched._ He frowned; surprised he hadn't noticed the heavy feeling of malice sooner. Carefully, he put his hand over Tenten's on his arm and smiled down at her, she shifted her head to look up at him, though her eyes were darting subtly around the rooftops, trying to discern the location of whoever was watching them.

Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest she was sure it was trying to escape; it was so easy for a moment to forget they were on a mission in very hostile territory. She felt Kakashi squeeze her hand three times. _Three enemies, but where?_ Her mind was racing trying to figure out where the observers were that Kakashi had spotted. Having a Byakugan user around all the time made it far too easy for her slack off in her spotting abilities. Suddenly, the overpowering feeling of malice that she had felt only a moment before dissipated as quickly as it had come. She let out a little unperceivable sigh of relief and felt Kakashi's muscles unclench as well.

The walk the rest of the way to their contact's home was much quieter.

* * *

"Ahhh, welcome, welcome!" a thin man with graying brown hair greeted them both enthusiastically as they walked through the main gate of a medium sized private home in the middle of the small, bustling city.

Kakashi smiled in greeting "Ah Hume-san, its been so long, how have you been? Tekiko has been wanting to visit you for sometime, since you weren't able to make it to the wedding"

"Now now, son, there's no need for such formality, we're family now! Call me Uncle, or Yoshiro, if you must" the older man clapped Kakashi on the shoulder.

Tenten smiled, catching onto the older man's part in their improvised family. She moved in and smiled genuinely at Yoshiro, and said,"Kaasan sends her best, and she says you still owe her a match of shogi! She still thinks you cheated last time you two played"

"Well that old woman never changes" replied Yoshiro, smiling at her affectionately. "Well, I suppose I'll give in and let her win this battle, I did cheat you know" he chuckled "I'll send you along with a letter for her, maybe a little gift begging my little sister's forgiveness"

Looking him over, she understood now why Tsunade didn't have a problem putting her on the mission, the man could very easily be her uncle, warm brown eyes and brown hair that would probably have been similar in color to hers in his youth, some obvious differences, but close enough to fool most people.

_So, he has a letter for Tsunade-sama and something else? _She wondered what that something else was, but they had more important matters to discuss at the moment, and it was obvious Yoshiro did not want to discuss them in the open air.

At that moment, as if reading her mind Kakashi spoke up, "Now, don't you think we should be getting inside, its cool out here and it looks like its going to rain"

"Ah yes yes, of course, we'll go inside and I'll have some tea sent up,"

The older man ushered the two shinobi inside and through a series of maze-like hallways that eerily reminded Tenten of a smaller version of the Hyuuga compound. She had no idea how people actually managed to live in places with so many hallways, very different from her one-bedroom apartment. Finally the group made their way to a room that seemed to be near the center of the house. Once they were all inside, Yoshiro slid the door closed, which was much heavier than the shoji screens of most of the rest of the house.

"Now, we can finally talk!" said Yoshiro, smiling tiredly and taking a seat at the low table that already had a steaming pot of tea and three cups on it.

Once they were all seated, Kakashi leaned in, "What information do you have for us?", he asked.

"Well, I haven't been able to get as much as of late, the curfew which I'm sure you've heard about has seriously impeded my investigation, it's hard for an old man to invent excuses to be out late at night."

Tenten glanced over at Kakashi, who's attention was focused on the older man.

"However, I have found out that there has been a shift in power, and that sparked the changes that have started taking place. Most of the upper class in the area have welcomed this new group with open arms. There have also been a lot of shipments coming in after dark, which I'm assuming is the reason for the curfew"

"Do you have any idea where the shipments are going within the city?" Tenten asked

"I'm not entirely sure, I'm sure you've seen that there is not much in the way of storage around here" he replied.

"I assume you haven't been able to discover what these shipments are?" Kakashi added with a small frown, their 'contact' wasn't adding much information that they didn't already have.

"Well, not completely, I know they're bringing whatever they're importing in barrels, last week during one of the storms, the wind pulled the tarp off of one of the wagons, and one of my little birdies caught a glimpse, maybe two dozen just on that wagon alone. So wherever they're storing them has to be fairly large"

"Ahh, that explains why we're going to be staying at the resort, it seems to be the largest building in town"

The older man nodded, "And while I know for a fact there are cave systems in the area, I doubt that any entrance would be unguarded."

"Good, we'll start our investigation in the resort, If that turns up nothing, we'll try to find out more about these caves, and while we're in there we can at least check out the upper class crowd in town, maybe we'll get lucky and someone will let something slip. Is there anything else?"

"That's about all I've been able to uncover, sorry I can't be of more help." The older man said, frowning. "I'm not the man I used to be he said sadly.

"Don't be concerned, you've been very helpful, we'll keep you updated on our investigation" said Tenten, moving to stand up and smiling fondly at the older man, something about him put her at ease.

Yoshiro walked his guests to the main gate of his property and waved them off, with an invitation for dinner later in the week.

The two ninja made their way through the streets towards their destination, though both were now on alert, after being so suddenly startled earlier, neither was going to let anyone sneak up on them again. Tenten took a deep breath as they approached the imposing building that she could only assume was the resort. It was quite obvious that this was the largest and most expensive building in town, the wood it was made from was lighter than any wood available locally with intricate carving all along the entrance gates.

As the pair entered the ornate foyer of the resort , two servants on either side of the doors bowed low to them, Tenten tried her best not to gawk, knowing that while she wasn't use to such grandeur, _Tekiko_ certainly was. As Kakashi walked towards the front desk, she let her hands fall away from his arm, and smiled at him sweetly when he turned and gave her a questioning look.

"Yasuo, I want to look around while you're dealing with all that" she waved her hand dismissively towards the desk, "Maybe they have a boutique in here, I don't want to go back into town if I can help it,"

Kakashi tilted his head to the side slightly, _straight to business then, fine by me._ He nodded to her and stepped in, closer to her, leaned in, pulled his scarf down and softly pressed his lips against hers. After lingering there for a moment, he stepped back and studied her face, enjoying the blush that was blooming across her cheeks, though she was obviously fighting it. "Go ahead, I'll catch up in a minute,"

Tenten nearly jumped out of her skin when his lips brushed against hers, and tried her very best to not blush, though she knew she was doing a poor job of it. She had been kissed plenty of times before, and this was nothing, just a little peck, nothing to freak out about, however her little rationalization didn't do much to reduce the blush that she hoped no one else in the hotel foyer had noticed. Taking a deep breath she shot him her best attempt at a mischievous grin and turned and walked in a direction she hoped would lead her to clues about their mission, or shopping, or both.

Kakashi watched her disappear down one of the lavish corridors he couldn't help but watch the sway of her hips as she walked away.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Still don't own Naruto, still poor.

Yay for reviewers! Thanks Lotos, its amazing what happens when I actually read back through and edit my work.

I encourage more Kakashi x Tenten fics! Join me, its fun, they're both a blast to write. I promise!

* * *

**Unanticipated Storms**

**Chapter 7**

"Sir?"

"Sir, are you checking in?" said an impatient voice.

"Hm?" Kakashi realized he'd been staring at Tenten, while standing in the middle of the deserted foyer for much longer than would be considered 'normal'. He turned and looked at a young dark-haired man standing behind the ornate counter in the center of the room.

"Oh. Yes, I have a reservation, under the name 'Mitsumoto' I have it booked for a week, but we may be staying longer" said Kakashi as he approached the counter. "Our bags should have already been delivered, I'd like them taken to the room if they haven't been already."

The man behind the desk opened a large ledger, eyeing Kakashi suspiciously, obviously wondering if the silver-haired man in front of him had the money to stay at a place like this. The man turned his attention down to the book and his eyes widened a bit as he found the name he was given, he looked up at Kakashi in surprise and the edges of his lips curved up into a smile. Leaving Kakashi wondering exactly what was written in the book, he'd have to check later.

The man behind the desk's tone changed almost instantly from arrogant and impatient to sniveling "Of course of course, we have you in one of our premier suites, it has its own private hot spring, and complimentary spa package for your wife. We're also hosting a number of social gatherings. If you are interested I can put you on the guest list. If there is _anything_ I can do for you I would be happy to be of service, my name is Has---"

Kakashi cut the other man off with a wave of his hand, "Thank you, there is actually something. My wife is very fond of shopping, if you didn't notice, could you point me in the direction of some popular places she might like? Also, I'm sure she'd like to go to your social events, if the right _crowd of people_ are going to be there, she doesn't like mixing with other sorts"

"Of course of course, the main areas she'd like are all right around the resort, no more than a block or two, and of course we have a very exclusive boutique here, so she needn't leave if she doesn't want to, your bags have already been taken up, and I'll have your names added to the guest list. I assure you, she will feel right at home, is there anything else I can do for you sir?"

"Actually, while my wife is quite taken with shopping, I myself enjoy nature a bit more, it's a shame to get out of the big city just to sit inside all day, neh?"

"Ah, yes, well apart from our hot springs there are a series of trails through the mountains here that are quite spectacular, there is also a cave that is open to the public it has some of the most beautiful natural formations anywhere, I think even your wife may enjoy that" the man added,

"Mm, well, that gives me something to think about, I think that's all for now"

"I'll have someone show you to your room" the man motioned hurriedly to one of the servants at the door. The young round-faced woman scurried over to them and bowed to Kakashi, who nodded stiffly in return. As the young woman lead them away, Kakashi subtly slipped the young man behind the counter more money than Kakashi really wanted to think about. _I'm glad Tsunade's paying for this, _he thought idly as he followed the girl to their room.

Tenten was bored of shopping. The 'exclusive boutique' really meant 'tiny boutique with nothing interesting at all'. Of course, the only thing the increasingly frustrated kunoichi would be interested in right now would be set of razor sharp kunai, or maybe a nice sword. Much to Tenten's dismay, the sales woman took her boredom to mean she wanted to see _more_ expensive clothing.

Finally with an exasperated sigh, she gave in to the perky red-haired sales woman and picked out a robe in pale green silk with a subtle pattern embroidered in gold, she didn't even look at the price tag, afraid to even look. _Probably more than I make in a year_ she thought glumly. She ran her fingers over her purchase and frowned a little bit.

"Would you like to see the comb set that goes with that?" the girl asked, her eyes glinting with the promise of another sale.

"Why not" said Tenten trying her best not to roll her eyes. _What the hell is taking Kakashi so long?_

She folded her arms over her chest as she waited for the woman to pull the probably even more expensive combs out of a case. As she waited impatiently, her eyes scanned the area looking for an escape, or at least some excuse to ignore the salesgirl. Sighing, she turned back to the girl who was pulling out a series of gold combs, looking triumphant.

"On second thought, I can find something better back home, put the robe on my husband's bill, 'Mitsumoto' and have it sent to my room" sounding slightly meaner than she'd intended, she watched the girls face fall and she turned and left the shop walking as quickly as her tight skirt allowed. She hustled around the corner and made her way around the base floor of the tall building, trying to familiarize herself with it. As she walked, she memorized the layout and escapes in case she needed them later. She also noted several unassuming looking doors, through which she observed a pair of maids disappear into, _Servants passages_ _definitely something worth checking out later._ She made special note of the plain doors as she wandered the hallways.

Finishing her circuit around the building, she made her way towards the back of the hotel. Stepping out onto an open air porch she was surprised to discover a large garden. In the midst of such a crammed little city she never expected the gardens to be so extensive. Despite the cooling weather, the trees and plants were all very green and of course well cared for.

She smiled softly, stepping down onto the rock path, gardens had always been one of her soft points, growing up as an orphan she'd spent her whole life trying to earn her keep, always living off of the kindness of others, then working hard to support herself and become the top-rate kunoichi she had become. All this left little time or opportunity for enjoying simple things like strolling through a garden. _Kakashi will come find me eventually, besides, I already did my part for the moment and mapped out the base floor, I can afford a little me-time._

Grinning at her decision, she strolled happily along the paths. Examining fragile looking flowers and intricately designed rock gardens. After circling the garden, she stopped on top of one of the arched bridges that crossed the little stream that meandered through the garden; she leaned over the railing and simply watched the water bubbling by.

After he had checked to make sure their room was secure, he'd set about finding Tenten. It didn't take him long to guess where she had gone. His hunch paid off when he spotted her from across the garden staring, as if in a trance at the river water. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips, S_he really looks like she belongs here, its hard to think she could hit me in the head with a knife from there._ His musing came to an abrupt halt as he sensed another, decidedly unfriendly presence in the garden, one Tenten didn't seem to have noticed. Forcing himself to walk into the open with a casual gait, he strolled towards the brown haired kunoichi who was in her own little world.

Tenten was so absorbed in watching the stream, she didn't notice she wasn't alone until she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her waist and a chin come to rest on her shoulder. She jumped a little bit but suppressed her instinct to elbow whoever was behind her in the face.

"Hi there, enjoying the scenery?" asked a low voice she was beginning to know very well.

"Mmm, I really am." She replied, relaxing a bit. _I really do need to start paying attention more._ She mentally chided herself.

He lowered his voice to barely a whisper, "Don't react, but we're being watched" he said, his voice serious, but his expression calm. He pulled her closer to him and moved his mouth just below her ear, intentionally blowing on her neck, just to get a reaction from her.

"Who?" she replied with a smile, trying to keep the surprise at his actions and the fact that they were being watched out of her voice. His warm breath at the back of her neck caused a shiver to run up and down her spine. While it was not an unpleasant sensation, it was a wholly unexpected one, she felt another blush rising in her cheeks. Inwardly, she frowned at herself, she wasn't supposed to be having this reaction to _Kakashi_ of all people. She was supposed to have this reaction to Neji. Of course… Neji had never wrapped his arms around her like this, and she'd never felt his breath on the back of her neck, somehow she doubted she ever would, even if it was for a mission.

_Even if its just a mission, and he'll never talk to me again after this mission is over… there's no reason I can't enjoy myself a little, besides, we're supposed to be convincing, right?_ _Right._ She grinned at her decision and idly slipped one of her hands up to his shoulder and lightly traced small circles over the place where she knew his ANBU tattoo would be. Slowly her fingertips made their way up to his neck, sliding under the scarf he'd arranged there, smirking slightly as she felt him jump under her fingertips.

He opened his mouth to reply, but then her fingers started moving in little circles on his shoulders, and then his neck, causing a jolt of unexpected pleasure to momentarily shut down his brain. He cleared his throat and replied after a little too long, "Not sure, they're being careful, did you find out anything"

"No, not much, just that their shopping sucks, mapped out the base floor, I think our best option will be to check out the servants corridors," she whispered, her fingers slowly dancing over his skin. Her grin widened when she felt his arms tighten around her.

"Mmhmm" he mumbled, his attention now focused on her fingers on his skin, causing his mind to wonder what those fingers would feel like in _other _places.

_If this is the game she wants to play, she'll learn who the master of THIS game is._ Turning his head to the side, he pulled away the scarf from his face and brushed his lips against the silky skin of her neck, and replied in a husky tone that reverberated in the back of his throat, "Well, I got us invited to some kind of social event, though I doubt we'll find anything more than we've found out already… "

Tenten bit her lower lip at the tone of his voice, she had no idea he could make intelligence gathering sound so… seductive. _Damnit! _ _Calm down, girl, he's just playing with you. Just.. Focus. _She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, which didn't help matters at all because all she inhaled was his spicy masculine scent.

She turned halfway to look up at him, meaning to respond to his comment, but then all rational thought escaped her brain as his lips captured hers in a surprisingly soft yet insistent kiss. She melted against him and let him press her against the railing of the bridge, her lips responding to his and parting slightly to let his tongue softly tease her lower lip.

Her fingers continued made circles at the base of his neck, slowly edging up towards his hairline, her actions earning her a small groan from the silver haired shinobi. By the time he pulled back, she was glad he was holding onto her so tightly, she wasn't sure her legs would support her. She took another breath and managed to regain some rational thought, and a very good idea popped into her head, _I'm not about to let him think I'm some pushover little girl that he can toy with, no matter that he just did exactly that…_

"Are we alone now?" she whispered in a seductive tone.

He nodded a quick affirmative, and moved into kiss her again, but she moved one hand from his neck to in front of his mouth putting her index finger over his lips, effectively stopping his forward motion.

"Well, whoever was watching us, I suppose the show must have been enough to make them go away, at least for a while, neh?" she whispered in casual tone before slipping gracefully out of his grip with a grin on her face _You won't get me that easily, Hatake. _

As she started walking purposefully back towards the shelter of the hotel, a crack of thunder shattered the calm of the garden. By the time she had made it to the entrance inside, the skies opened and a cold rain drenched Kakashi who stood planted in the spot she had left him, watching her retreating form.

"Well, I _do_ like a challenge" he mumbled to himself, before he moved to follow her inside.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I still don't own anything. This one's a little longer than the last couple have been, enjoy!

* * *

**Unanticipated Storms**

**Chapter 8**

"Someone will be sure to recognize you, like that",

Kakashi was leaning back in his chair on two legs, his feet propped up on a table and one hand behind his head. He looked up slowly from his Icha Icha book and stared at the girl standing on the other side of the hotel suite who had a hand planted firmly on her hip. She'd just gotten out of the shower, and while she was already dressed in a pair of loose pants and a tank top (much to his disappointment) her long hair fell around her shoulders in damp chunks. She pulled her fingers through her thick locks as she stared pointedly at him.

She approached him and put her open palm on the top of his head, trying to pat down his mass of gravity-defying hair, "Your hair's starting to escape, and anyone who knows anything about you would recognize _that_" she pointed to his book with a little disgusted frown.

He glanced from her, to his book, then slowly back to her.

"This is quality literature, plenty of people read it", he mumbled more to himself than her as he slipped the book in the back pocket of his pants, hoping to find some time away from her watchful eyes to catch up on some reading.

Her brown eyes narrowed at him as she watched him pocket the book, "You are not serious, put the book in the bags. If I'm not allowed to have my weapons, you can't have your book. If you want something to look at, study this." She, sighed walked over to a desk and grabbed a folded piece of paper from on top of it. "Here, it's the base floor, we can add to it as we find more"

She walked back over to him and dropped the paper in front of him, and turned away before he plucked it from the air. "I'm going to get ready, we've got one of those fancy party things tonight, right?" she said as she disappeared into the bathroom. "Think we could do some scouting after?" she asked hopefully.

"Don't see why not, but this rain will make things difficult "

"I suppose" she replied, sounding disappointed.

He heard the hairdryer start up from the bathroom and shook his head at her, _Most girls would be excited about a fancy party, not about climbing around on roofs in the rain, maybe spending so much time with Gai really has made her lose it, _he mused. He waited a couple of minutes to make sure she was absorbed in drying her hair, then pulled his prized book from his back pocket and picked up where he left off.

After several minutes of quality Icha Icha reading, out of nowhere, an object flew spinning at dangerous speeds at the copy-ninja's face, leaving him no time to dodge. It smacked into his forehead with a solid _thunk_. The force of attack pushed the usually agile ninja off balance and he landed with a crash on the floor. Blinking, he looked around for whatever had just hit him, spying a hairbrush on the floor, he looked up and saw a very angry Tenten standing in the doorway of the bathroom, the ferocity on her face made him gulp, no doubt left in his mind that she was every inch a deadly ninja. She marched over to him, grabbed the book from him and her hairbrush from the ground. "I _said_ you should put it away," her tone dangerous. She then grinned at him, and walked back to the bathroom, waving her hand "I don't ask people to do things often, but please listen when I do." she added politely.

Kakashi stared after her, wondering why she was always confusing him and walking away. Sighing he rubbed the red brush-shaped spot on his face and went about examining the floor plan she had drawn up. Surprised at the detail she'd managed to remember with such a short walk through the building.

More than an hour and a half later Tenten was ready to leave, her rich mahogany hair was down around her shoulders in loose curls except for a small, tasteful dark gold clip pulling the hair away from the right side of her face. She wore a long dark red dress that hugged her curves to her knee then flared out around her feet. The chest line was just low enough to show off her collar bones and a hint of the swell of her breasts, but not enough for actual cleavage. At her neck she wore a strand of dark grey pearls which stool out against her pale skin.

She sighed and looked in the mirror, "Well, this is as good as it gets" she said, frowning a little bit at her appearance, what would have taken Sakura or Ino twenty minutes took her over an hour, and she still wasn't impressed with the results. With one final glance in the mirror she walked out into the sitting area of their suite.

"I'm ready." She mumbled, _Why can't I be delicate… like other girls? Besides, Weapons Mistress doesn't imply 'Wears Dresses' I thought I became a ninja to get away from being girly. She thought to herself._ Despite having adjusted the dress before, she still fidgeted, feeling completely out of place,

Kakashi watched with a grin as she adjusted the dress uncomfortably over her hips. Completely unaware that she looked drop dead gorgeous, even down to her full red lips turned into a pout as she examined herself. Standing he walked over to her and reached out, pulling her hands away from the dress.

"Well, you look better in it than Gai would" he said lightheartedly.

Tenten had been so absorbed in her appearance she didn't really notice the silver-haired man standing in front of her until about 5 seconds after he spoke and the comment sunk in. "Huh?" she asked at first then, snorted and broke into a fit of giggles at the mental image of Gai in her dress. When she finally stopped laughing she looked at him, about to make a witty reply but when she moved to speak no words came out so severe was her shock. His face was uncovered. Well, all except for the eye-patch over his sharingan.

"Y-Your face?!" she stammered

"Yes, I do have one of those" he said with a chuckle at her reaction, then leaned in and whispered in a dark tone, "If you tell anyone else about this, I'll make you wish for a fast death."

He watched with amusement her pretty face go from mirth to pale fear in seconds. She gulped and nodded a little bit, still staring at him wide-eyed.

"Lets go, and stop staring at me like that, we're supposed to be married, right?" he said in his usual tone as he headed for the door.

"Umm, yeah" she said, shaking her head a little, as if trying to shake the shock off her face. She hurried to catch up with him as best she could in her annoyingly strappy high heels.

Tenten was finding it a lot harder to slip into her character now that she was surrounded by _actual_ high class women. All of her acting lessons from her time at the academy were now fuzzy behind a wall of nerves. She could stare down a dozen enemy ninjas without breaking a sweat, she could bear to have her skin sliced open with barely a flinch, she could handle being beaten to a bloody pulp daily, but she was absolutely terrified of a pack of spoiled, catty women. Finding herself clinging to Kakashi's arm who kept shooting her curious looks, she kept her eyes trained on the ground.

He leaned down and murmured quietly in her ear, "You look better than any of them, just go and pretend they've wandered onto your practice field, you own it, don't let them intimidate you, besides, its your job, neh?"

She shot him an appreciative look and nodded, at least somebody here didn't think she was ridiculous, or at least wouldn't openly mock her about how ridiculous she was. She gave him a small smile, took a deep breath, and detached herself from his arm. "Tekiko, do you want something to drink?" he asked, as he moved away towards a server who was circling the large room with a tray of drinks, she shot him a dazzling smile and nodded, gave him a little half wave and slipped into the well dressed crowd.

Once past her initial trepidation about dealing with the mob of women, she found it much easier than she expected to slip into her role and subsequently, gather a lot of meaningless information from the women at the party. Most of them seemed to accept her at first sight, much to the kunoichi's surprise.

Seated at a small table, Tenten was in the middle of a less than thrilling discussion about lip plumper (whatever the hell that was) with a short blond when she felt a tap on her shoulder; she turned her head and found Kakashi holding out a glass of champagne.

"Miss me?"

"Ahh, there you are, Love" she said sweetly, though her eyes said something more along the lines of 'What the hell took you so long?'

He grinned at her, and she found herself staring at his lips, taking in how the simple removal of his mask completely changed the way his expressions looked, adding a new depth to them . After a little while she was pulled out of her reverie by a polite 'ah-hem' she glanced over, startled at the blonde she'd been talking with, she blinked at the other woman,

"Oh yes, how rude of me, This is my husband, Mitsumoto Yasuo. Yasuo, this is Hitsumaya Suki"

Kakashi inclined his head slightly at the woman who gave a polite bow, "It's a pleasure to meet you miss," he said cooly, he turned his attention back to Tenten, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be gone for a little while, there's a man here who's interested in setting up…." He looked at the glazed over stare Tenten was giving him, "ahem, business stuff." He finished leaned in and kissed her on the forhead "I'll be back later, don't have too much fun" he said, trying to keep the mirth out of his voice. He turned, and waltzed to a group of other men and the group of them left the room.

Watching Kakashi go, she let out a little sigh, brought the champagne glass to her lips and drained it without a thought. She turned back to the blonde woman who was now staring at her blatantly with her mouth open. After a few silent moments, she let out a little, girlish laugh. "Heh, heh, I was… thirsty. So ah, Suki, what does your husband do? Because half the time I have no idea what mine does" she said with a little laugh.

"Oh, this and that, you know men, never satisfied sitting still"

Tenten pondered that comment and how well it applied to nearly every man she knew, though, perhaps not in the way the other woman meant. "Ah, you are right there. It takes a lot to keep up with them, neh?"

"Ugh, you have _no_ idea, Ishida constantly travels, I mean couldn't he just have someone else take care of all this, I mean I haven't seen our house in practically a year, though I _love_ traveling,"

"Me too! Its so nice to see the different styles in different places, though, some are better than others, I prefer the looks in the islands to those in say someplace like the Wind Country, they're completely covered all the time!" Tenten was surprised at the shallowness of her own comment, but her companion seemed to take it in stride, now completely forgetting about Tenten's strange drinking habits.

"Aah Tekiko, you're totally right, we visited there once, shapeless potato-sacks!"

Tenten nodded a heartless agreement, glancing around the room, trying, in vain to find a way to escape.

They were joined by several more girls and spent the rest of the evening in deep discussion of fashion and men, all this accompanied by copious amounts of champagne, sake, and some fruity concoction that Tenten wasn't completely sure she wanted to know the ingredients of. She had no idea that a 'fancy high class party' was just an excuse for rich people to get together, show off their expensive clothes, brag about their expensive hobbies and apparently, drink expensive alcohol.

By the time Kakashi returned from his improvised business meeting, he was irritated, most of the men who he'd spent the past hour talking with were more than likely involved in whatever was going on in this town, though he wasn't able to steer the conversation that way more than once if he didn't want to raise suspicions. While he had genuinely tried to gather information for the first hour of their 'discussions' after that, he simply laughed mechanically at their jokes and drank more sake than was probably necessary.

Despite how decidedly _un_happy and bored Kakashi was, 'Yasuo' was happy and he had to act the part, he had arranged a new business deal that would have him supplying the town with a new type of medicine that Yasuo had managed to arrange a business deal with the supplier. He had no doubt they intended medicine be used for things other than the legal, medical uses. Good thing there's no medicine. He sighed and followed the rest of the men back to the main party, which appeared to be winding down. He spied Tenten surrounded by a group of other women, they were laughing, and surround by _a lot_ of empty glasses.

"Mitsumoto-san, you coming in?" a the voice of one of the younger, more tolerable men he'd just spent several hours drinking with called back to him.

"Yes, just watching my wife make a fool of herself", replied Kakashi with a half-hearted laugh, inwardly frowning _if she blows the mission we're going to have to get out of here fast._ His eyes started scanning for exits and he tried to think back to the map Tenten had drawn for him, though it all seemed to be a bit fuzzy. Maybe he'd had one too much sake as well.

"Which one is yours?" asked the other man with a wide grin.

"The one drinking directly from the sake bottle… excuse me, I need to go get her." Kakashi said, pushing himself off the door frame, and heading towards Tenten who appeared to be about halfway through the bottle.

"Don't worry Yasuo-san, they always end up doing this", the other man called after him.

"Ah well, she'll never forgive me if I let her continue, you know how women are about their appearances" Kakashi replied, not looking back.

Tenten grinned at the girls around her, they really weren't so bad once you got a few drinks in you, sure they were catty, shallow bitches, but after a couple of.. bottles of sake all that seems a lot less important.

"Tekiko-chan, tell us more about that delicious husband of yours!" insisted one of the women whose name she'd forgotten but she'd mentally nicknamed 'Monkey Ears' , for obvious reasons.

"Yea, we've told you all about ours, now its time to share!" added another enthusiastically.

"Mmm what's he like in bed?" asked a woman with dark hair. Tenten's fuzzy brain took a little longer than usual to process the comment, but when it did, she coughed and nearly spit sake all over the woman infront of her.

"Kiari, you're terrible." Another woman teasingly reprimanded.

"I can't tell you that, Yasuo woud _kill_ me!" Tenten squeaked, looking for a way to avoid the conversation. She could make something up, but quite honestly she didn't have a lot of experience. Sure, she had some , but nothing like a married woman would know about her husband. Frantically she thought back to her training: this conversation was definitely _not_ covered in the academy.

"Oh, look! New drinks!" Tenten said as a server approached the gaggle of less than sober women.

"Not fair, not fair, no trying to get out of it! here, if you drink this WHOLE thing, you don't have to tell us" squealed the dark haired woman and shoved a bottle of sake. "Otherwise, we get details" she added with a fox-like grin.

She had really tried to restrain herself, drinking only half drinks watering down when she could, but the alcohol was having a definite effect on her. Though, as always, she was unable to back down from a direct challenge.

"Is this how you girls greet someone new?" she said with a sigh, taking the bottle.

"Always!" replied several of them at once.

"Well ok, but I really wish it was something better, it's so hard to drink this cheap stuff" she said haughtily and wrinkled her nose, she tried her hardest to keep herself from giggling at her lie, this sake was the best she had ever tasted.

"Stop stalling Tekiko-chan!" said the Yuki, the blonde who she had spent most of the evening with. After a few more halfhearted attempts to get out of drinking, she gave up and started to down the fiery liquid, it went down surprisingly smoothly; _I guess that's what I get with the good stuff_. She thought to herself as she drank.

When she was about halfway through, her eyes fixed on the ceiling she was surprised to see one dark eye, and a very disapproving face appear above her head, _Uh-oh_.

Before she could speak, the sake bottle was removed from her hand, and she was pulled to her feet. "Tekiko, it's time to go." Kakashi said as he lead her a little way away from the other women.

"I don't wanna, we were having fun!" she whined with a pout, folding her arms dramatically.

Kakashi let out a sigh of relief; she wasn't nearly as drunk as he'd feared if she was still in character. Though the more he studied her he realized she was definitely somewhat 'off' well so was he, but that was beside the point.

"Come on now, love, it's late, and we'll see everyone again later this week"

She let out a little angry huff, and managed to look graceful doing it, despite the evening of drinking. She tossed her brown hair over her shoulder and fixed him with a little glare and turned to walk back to the women. He frowned and followed, "Come on Tekiko-chan, I'll buy you whatever you want tomorrow if you just come with me now" he pleaded; the perfect picture of the whipped husband of a spoiled brat.

"Reeeaally? _Anything_" she asked loudly, turning around instantly with a wide smile on her face.

"Anything." He said, adding a note of fear to his voice.

She nodded quickly "One minute" she said with a smile and returned to the women, and said her goodbyes, some of the women at Tenten's table glanced up at him with wolfish grins, something he really never expected from this particular group of women. As Tenten was busy saying her goodbyes he noticed the half-full bottle of sake in his hand. _What the hell_ he thought as he walked towards the exit of the large room and tipped the bottle of extremely expensive liquid into his mouth.

Once the pair of ninja had managed to get a good distance from the party Tenten let out a heavy sigh, "I hope I _never_ have to do that again," she muttered, pulling the clip out of her hair.

"You seemed like you enjoyed it, you seemed to be having a good time with the 'girls'" he replied dryly.

"Yes, because I was given acting classes, duh, I wouldn't actually like people like that" she grumbled, pausing for a moment to tug the strappy high-heels off her feet, hopping a bit to keep her balance, the drink was clouding her head a little more than she would usually want. "So are we still going for our 'walk'?" she asked, hopefully.

He nodded nonchalantly and walked back towards the room, when she didn't follow he turned around to see that she'd slipped into a dark corner and was shimmying out of her red dress. His eyes widened a fraction, _Maybe she's more drunk than I thought, _he , a moment later he saw that, under the dress, she had been wearing a pair of tight black pants and a matching spaghetti strap tank-top. The outfit was excellent for scouting, but left nothing to the imagination, despite the outfit, he sort of preferred the idea of her so drunk she would strip down in the middle of a hotel hallway. He wasn't looking forward to getting drenched.

"Prepared?" he asked, moving to lean against a support beam and putting both hands behind his head, watching her.

"Well, I was hopeful. Besides, I didn't want to waste time." She grinned wickedly "What? Were you hoping for something else?" she said, her grin turning decidedly more smirk-like.

"Maybe I was", he replied with a small grin, waiting for the blush that he had discovered he usually got when he called her bluffs like this.

She tilted her head to the side at him, then rolled her eyes and walked towards him, "Baka" she whispered, and before he could react or even register the fact that she insulted him, she had her lips against his. He was so startled that he didn't react at first; it wasn't until he felt her teeth graze against his lower lip that he responded and opened his mouth slightly and kissed her back passionately. Wrapping his arms under hers he buried his hands in her dark hair, he pulled her lithe closer to him. She pushed herself against him and whimpered softly against his lips. With a small grin he nibbled at her lip, her whimper was music to his ears and he decided that he wanted to hear more.

She gasped as his hands roamed her back before slipping under her tight shirt and teasing the skin at the base of her spine causing her to simultaneously shiver and feel hot all over. Pulling back, she looked up at him and grinned widely at the lust filled expression on his face before she moved in and attacked his neck with her lips. "Not what you were expecting?" she whispered against the skin of his neck.

He shook his head, "But… I'm not complaining" he mumbled huskily before reaching for her chin and guiding her lips back to his in a fierce kiss. Pressing him fully against the wall she stood on her toes and then swung one leg up to wrap around his waist, and pressed her hips against his growing erection, eliciting a groan from him. One of his hands made its way under her shirt, brushing against the sensitive skin of her ribs as he made his way to her breast where he kneaded her soft skin roughly. She suddenly felt far too hot, the heat that had settled in the pit of her stomach demanded _more_.

"The room, now." She half moaned, half ordered. He didn't reply, he simply looked down into her dark, pleading eyes and pulled her other leg up around his waist where she hooked them together behind his back and continued to kiss his neck as he made his way as quickly as humanly possible to their room.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I own nothing.**

A big hug to all my reviewers! Sorry this one took a little longer to write, it is quite a bit longer than my usual chapter, it really should have been 2 chapters, but I'm feeling generous and I want to get things moving also... just couldn't find a good place to cut it. There's quite a bit of Tenten angst in this chapter, I know that seem like an oxymoron. However, its my story and she can have depth... and a 'special' inner monologue if I want her to.

:::LEMON WARNING::: Yes, I wrote it, if you don't like it, I suggest you turn back now.

Enjoy.

**

* * *

  
**

**Unanticipated Storms**

**Chapter 9**

_What the hell am I doing?_ The still rational part of Tenten's brain screamed at her. She wasn't sure if what she was doing was a good idea, but at that moment, it felt right. It was intoxicating, the way his lips felt against her skin, and how his skin tasted, and the way he smelled. He was carrying her down the hallway of an expensive hotel, in hostile territory, on the way to their hotel room to do very _unprofessional_ things to her.

Somehow, she was ok with that. _We're far away from home, Nobody ever needs to find out, he won't tell anyone, neither will I_. She thought to herself. _Very good plan, Tenten, lets go with that._ However, A part of her still very felt guilty. The part that, though she loathed to admit it was still in love with a certain Hyuga. Fooling around with Kakashi, even though she was certain there would be no strings attached seemed like betraying Neji, who had for the better part of a year had been ignoring her. The whole thing just made her head hurt.

She buried her face against his neck and planted a series of kisses against his skin, causing him to groan. Before she knew what was happening he had slammed her back against the wooden wall of the hallway and he was kissing her fiercely. All thought left her brain again as they kissed, battling for dominance. _Competitve kissing, I could like this, _She thought as she captured his lower lip between her teeth and bit down just hard enough to earn her a groan from the silver haired man. When he finally released her lips she was out of breath and he was looking at her strangely.

It took a few moments before her brain started working again, "Why did you stop?" she whispered, breathlessly.

"Why?" he replied, she wasn't sure if he'd actually made a sound, or if she'd simply read his lips.

"Does it matter?" she replied instantly, he didn't need to know that she didn't know _why_ either, that she was hung up on someone else, right now she wanted _him_ he was here and he felt _so good._ Suddenly becoming much more aware of the rest of her body and how amazing he felt pressed against her. She was overcome by a powerful desire to see the body beneath those expensive clothes.

Leaning forward, she moved to kiss him again but he dodged her attempt and didn't respond. She clenched her jaw and fixed him with a glare that would have some of Konoha's finest running for the hills. Her mood was quickly darkening and her frustration was rising.

_What the hell? Am I so hideously unattractive that Kakashi, one of the most perverted, and if the rumors are right, opportunistic shinobi in the Hidden Leaf Village is turning me down cold? I practically flung myself at him. No, I DID fling myself at him. Oh god Tenten, you are such a massive idiot, you should just back away now, never speak to him again, ever, maybe suicide? It would be better than being turned into the butt of every joke in Konoha._ Her inner monologue was raging at such a volume in her mind that she'd almost completely forgotten about Kakashi, who was still pinning her against the wall.

"Hey, are you with me?" he asked in a hurried whisper.

She blinked at him; she suddenly realized that while she'd been screaming at herself in her head, he might have been talking to her. He was looking worried now, well, maybe not quite worried, maybe confused.

"Someone is in our room" he whispered, she looked around, realizing that they were in fact right outside their room. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was impressed with Kakashi's speed, though at the moment, her mind was focused elsewhere, as she instantly snapped into full attention on the situation.

"How many?"

"One. From what I have been able to figure out, though there may be more"

She nodded silently and moved to slip out of his grip, trying to remember where she had stashed her weapons and scrolls, after a quick mental checklist she decided on the kunai in the purse, right inside the door. However, as she moved his hand tightened on her arm, forcing her to stop. Her brown eyes turned up to his face, he had flipped his eye patch up and was staring into the room with an expression so intense it made her shiver, and wonder if anyone ever knew all the sides to this man. She pulled away again and he started and looked down at the girl he had captured. He looked surprised when he realized that she was trying to pull away and he instantly let her go.

Silent as a shadow, she slid away from him, to the opposite side of the door. Then she turned back, her eyes fixing on his for a moment, her dark brown eyes almost black in the dim corridor, before she moved her attention to the door to their room. Crouching low, she pressed her toes into the floorboard, waiting for Kakashi's signal to go.

He moved his stare from the room where he was concentrating to the woman sliding away from him. Despite the fact that he was now in 'work mode' he regretted letting her go, especially after he saw the hurt and vulnerable look on her face that she so diligently tried to hide from him. Though, from her stance and expression now, no one would ever guess she could look like anything but a determined and fierce warrior. Somehow the fact that she could go from one extreme to the other so quickly made him want to push her back against the wall and continue what they had started, despite the threat on the other side of the wall.

Whoever was on the other side of the door was adept at hiding their chakra and if he hadn't paused press Tenten up against the wall he probably would have burst into the room without a second thought and probably cost them both their lives. _Though… It might have been worth it. _He thought, _Get yourself under control._ He mentally slapped himself across the face. Taking a deep breath he fell into a deep stance and slid the door open, simultaneously motioning Tenten into the room, who flew through the opening and disappeared.

He followed a moment later, his eyes darting around the room. He almost started forming seals but he quickly realized that too late to do anything of the sort. In the dim moonlight, the brown haired kunoichi stood, already pressing a kunai against the throat of a man who had until quite recently appeared to be sitting calmly in one of the lavish chairs furnishing their suite.

"One noise and you die" he heard her hiss, in a voice that managed to somehow simultaneously terrify and arouse him. Very confusing.

Somewhere in the back of his head he wondered when she'd gotten so fast, and another wondered where that kunai had been stashed, and if he even wanted to know. Moonlight glinted off her face, revealing a proud smirk, but leaving her prisoner in shadow. Kakashi tried desperately to hide a wide grin, and instantly wished his had his mask, it was so much easier hiding expressions when one wore a mask over their face 99% of the time. Her eyes flicked to him, she gave a slight nod that said 'all clear'. The man to whose throat she had her kunai pressed had his face almost completely covered obscuring his features. Though from the little bit of his eyes Kakashi could see, he was terrified.

He straightened and walked calmly over to the man, "You know, it's rude to enter someone else's room uninvited." He said coolly.

The man tried to make a response, but all that got out was a strangled yelp as Tenten's blade bit through the cloth at the man's neck and found the top layer of skin. Kakashi moved forward and in one, sharp movement reached up and ripped the mask from the intruder.

"Yoshiro!," Kakashi exclaimed, unable to hide the look of surprise that appeared on his face. Tenten, who was watching Kakashi, and _not_ her prisioner, gave him a quizzical look and then her eyes widened as well and she turned and looked down at the man she had very nearly stabbed through the throat. In a blur, she removed her blade and gave a little apologetic bow.

"Gomen Yoshiro-san" she said, her tone mortified, she _should_ have been able to tell who it was. Though, neither of them was actually expecting the person waiting for them to be friendly.

The older man reached up and rubbed his throat, his hand coming away with a smear of blood, "Well, I can't say that I blame you, with me sneaking around like this... but I needed to talk to the two of you. It is a matter of urgency." He frowned and glanced around the room, paying special attention to the windows. "It doesn't appear that I have been detected here yet; which is a very good thing. I'm going to have to disappear tonight. They have caught on to me and it has become too dangerous for me to stay here, I've left my messages, you know where they are going."

The older man looked from Kakashi to Tenten, "They are on the move, something big is happening and it is happening soon. An old man like me wouldn't be of much use here anymore" his voice seemed somewhat pained at the last statement, "I'm sure the two of you can handle it though, but when I get far enough away I will send for some backup.

Kakashi opened his mouth to question the older man about what was happening but was silenced when Yoshiro held up a hand.

"There is a final shipment coming in tonight, they are making some sort of device in the caves, I'm fairly certain I know which one." he said, reaching out and handing Kakashi what appeared to be a hastily drawn map.

"Now I must go, I probably won't see either of you again" he said, a note of sadness in his voice. He walked to the sliding door and opened it a crack, glancing outside.

He turned back to the two shinobi, and then pulled something out of his pocket, a forehead protector with the leaf symbol on it. After fastening it around his head, he said "It appears to be clear, so I'll be going now."

Yoshiro hesitated and then looked back at Tenten, fixing his brown eyes on her face with a somewhat pained expression, "Tenten-chan… you really do look just like your mother, I know she would have been proud of you." He said, then stiffened his jaw and disappeared out the door, and into the darkness and rain. Gone.

Tenten sood there frozen, looking at the open door, "Did he just say--?" she said finally in a small voice.

"You can sort it out later, we have a mission to do." Said Kakashi, grabbing his normal attire and quickly changing, not really paying attention to Tenten. He was not aware that the brown haired woman standing in the middle of the room was shaking fiercely.

"But he said..." she whispered staring into the darkness, "He called me Tenten, Did he know my… my family?" her mind had shut down. She never thought about the family she never had. Life as an orphan was hard, no one ever spoke to her about her family, and no one ever cared to. It wasn't like Naruto who everyone was afraid of. It was just that no one ever thought it was necessary, she wasn't important enough for anyone to figure out who she was.

Growing up, she had always been such a bright little girl, full of smiles and laughter. Everyone assumed she was happy, fulfilled, she didn't need a last name, a family. And she never showed anyone how much she craved those things because strong people don't cry just because they didn't have parents, and she was always strong. Raised by the village, she loved everyone, and tried desperately to convince herself that the love of her friends and teammates was enough. It wasn't.

"Probably, but It doesn't matter right now" he replied, distractedly still not looking at her as he moved around the room, absorbed in mission preparations. He didn't see the look of anguish splayed across her usually cheerful face at his comment. He didn't see her snap.

"But then, he knows who I am… I'm going after him." She choked out and dashed for the door.

Kakashi looked up just in time to see Tenten sprint for the door and barely managed to grab her before she ran headlong into the night. She was a good enough shinobi that he wouldn't have found her for a long if she got too far away from him.

"Not now. There will be time later for this" he almost growled at her, he wanted to get the mission done, the longer they spent in this room the greater the chance that the enemy would find them and either their mission would fail and they would die or their mission would fail and they would go home in disgrace. He liked neither option.

"No, no it has to be now" she struggled against Kakashi's vice-like grip on her upper arms, "He said he wouldn't see me again, he's going to disappear and he's the only one who knows" tears were rolling down her cheeks and she didn't even know it, "I have to know, I'm nobody, I'm background, I'm see-through I need….I need to matter" she turned her eyes from the door and fixed him with a deadly glare, "Let me GO, now!" she shouted at him, her voice desperate.

She moved swiftly and dropped instantly; causing him to loosen his grip on her upper arms. She planted one foot behind his leg twisted out of his grasp, knocking him over the back of her calve at the same time. He only stumbled but it slowed him enough for her to make a mad dash for the open door. Her vision was blurred by tears, but she could still see the open door and beyond it was the hope of knowing who she was that she never allowed herself the luxury of feeling.

Kakashi growled in frustration, aware now that his mission partner was having a breakdown, It wasn't unheard of. Most ninja go through it at some point or another. In the life of a shinobi most people are wound so tightly that they snap at one point or another. He just never thought that her snapping point would be about this. He'd always assumed she would snap someday and kill Lee and Gai for being idiots… he never thought she didn't have family, or that it was so important to her. _Who am I to talk about family issues?_ He thought to himself as he held her in place.

Suddenly, he let out a short gasp of surprise as she slipped from his grasp like water and barely managed to keep his footing when she pushed him over her leg. She was out the door by the time he managed to regain his footing. Even though she had a head start on him, he was faster and they both knew it. He caught sight of her disappearing over a fence at the edge of the private bath and bolted to catch up with her.

Despite the fact that she had no idea where she was going and Yoshiro was already well away and actively trying to hide himself, she ran through the grounds of the hotel in bare feet through a torrential downpour. The cold rain beat against her face and drenched her skin, but she didn't feel a thing, the rational functions in her brain had shut down a few minutes ago and all she cared about was finding the man who had a the key to her past. The past that she locked away, bottled up, and smashed down in her soul.

Somewhere, in the back of her head, she could sense Kakashi coming after her. Somewhere she was aware that what she was doing was very dangerous, she was running around in plain sight in the middle of hostile territory, almost asking to be attacked. If it wasn't already blown, their cover would be if someone saw her. She didn't care. She needed to know, she never needed anything so desperately in her life, and she hadn't realized it until it was thrown in her face.

She didn't even realize she had stopped moving until she heard Kakashi's voice, she couldn't make out what he was saying. She looked down, numbly and realized she was on the muddy ground and he was on top of her, pinning her there, with her in a lock that she knew she couldn't escape from without dislocating both of her shoulders. And then he kissed her.

After running full speed at a sprint, Kakashi managed to tackle the brown-haired kunoichi into the mud in the middle of a rain-drenched garden. The pair hit the ground with a painful crash. She struggled for a moment, her legs still attempting to run and then went limp, she was still mumbling something that he couldn't quite make out, something about 'finding' 'needing', all while sobbing; her tears mixing with the rain on her face. However, what disturbed him most was the hollow look in her eyes. He'd seen the look many times before, but he never thought it would grace her face that seemed like it was made for smiling.

"Snap out of it" he said in a harsh whisper

"Tenten" he said a little louder

"COME ON" he growled loudly

"YOU DO MATTER" he yelled, uncharacteristically. In her face, and then kissed her, not hard, not fiercely, but softly, and somehow that seemed to do it, her eyes focused on him and she tensed again. He pulled back and looked at her confused brown eyes that were still red from crying.

He slowly let her out of the lock when she showed no more signs of struggling to get away from him. Once released, she scooted a few feet away from him and rubbed her shoulders, and folded her legs in against her chest, she rested her head on her knees. While she no longer looked empty; she had a haunted look in her eyes. Kakashi had seen that expression, most commonly when he looked in the mirror. He suddenly felt a very strong desire to make that look go away, make her the smile come back, make her glare at him, roll her eyes.

Frowning he moved closer to her again, and reached out and pulled her closer. When she didn't offer any resistance, he pulled her against his body and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, moved his legs on the outside of hers, completely enveloping her in an embrace, pressing her back against his stomach. She was shaking a little bit but now she was fighting the tears, instead of letting her emotions explode and control her.

He nuzzled his face into her dark, wet hair and kissed her shoulder through her hair. Slowly his hands moved up and down her arms, and she pressed her back against him and sniffed slightly, she turned her head up to look at his face, his eyepatch was gone and his face was completely bared and covered in specs of mud, and rain was running freely down his face. Wild silver hair had escaped the ponytail, and was now sticking out at strange angles.

She looked up at him and gave him a weak smile, which he returned, the corners of his lips turning slightly upward, despite the worry still plastered across his face. Turning her head back forward she looked back at the curtain of rain around them. Her small, calloused hand slowly reached out and found his larger one, and pulled it away from her arm where he was holding her.

She brought it to her lips where she slowly kissed his fingers, his knuckles, and the palm of his hand. He didn't respond except to wrap his other arm more tightly around her. Letting his hand fall back, she turned again to look at his face, he didn't seem so worried now, it was another expression all together.

Kakashi's eyes widened as she kissed his hand, he'd never paid much attention to his hands, they where there for forming seals, throwing weapons, striking enemies. He had never contemplated what it would feel like having a woman's lips on them. He never imagined it would feel so good.

He suppressed a groan as she brushed her lips against the underside of his wrist, before letting his hand go, he instantly wrapped it around her body again. She turned and looked at him and he had struggled to keep the look of pure lust off of his face. She'd just had a breakdown; she didn't need him pressuring her into this right now. However, he wasn't given a chance to voice this concern.

She turned in his arms and, knelt in front of him; her thin arms now wrapped around his neck and pressed her lips against his in a desperate kiss. He kissed back instantly, his hands going to her hair where he tangled his fingers in her dark tresses. Her lips parted to his and let his tongue delve into her mouth. He ran his tongue over her teeth and found hers. Feeling her respond to his kiss, he let out the groan he had been holding back and his hands started to freely roam her perfect body.

She pressed herself against him as they kissed, encouraging the movements of his hands with small whimpers and groans. He pulled back after a moment and looked at her. Her dark hair was plastered against her face and fell around her shoulders in wet clumps. She was covered in mud, leaves, rainwater and her face was tear-stained, her eyes were red and her lips were dark from the fierceness of their kiss. She was stunning.

Leaning in, he kissed her again, pulling her with one arm flush against him; she shifted and moved to wrap her legs around his waist, her hips pressing fully against him. He gasped and then smirked against her lips and pressed his hips against her, leaving no question about his desire for her. His free hand slipped under her shirt, and pushed her bra aside to roughly caress her breasts, his fingers brushing across and pinching at her erect nipples. After another breath-stealing kiss he pulled his lips from hers and dragged them across her skin, kissing across her cheek and down her neck. She gasped loudly as his lips found the juncture of her shoulder and neck.

Grinning, he bit down on the spot and slowly sucked on the flesh there while running his tongue in slow circles over the sensitive skin, her mouth fell open and she moaned. Her head fell to the side, and her fingers dug into his shoulder as she pulled herself further against him. Reaching up, he pushed her hair away from her neck and continued his work. When he pulled back he could see a dark mark forming on her pale skin.

Her lips found his again and kissed him so fiercely he was pushed back and landed on his back in the mud, she crawled fully on top of him, pressing her body down against him as she did so. She finally came to rest, sitting on top of him, her hips flush against his. She slowly ground her hips against his painfully hard erection, almost making him loose control.

"Tenten.. Stop… teasing.." he groaned as his head fell back and pushed his hips up against her heat again. He closed his eyes and focused on the amazing heat coming from between her legs; and how much he wanted it. When he opened his eyes again he realized she had divested herself of her skin tight black shirt and bra. Without another thought, he sat up and ravenously attacked her breasts.

She moaned as his mouth assaulted her breasts sending shivers up and down her body to settle in the growing heat in the pit of her stomach. She let her eyes roll back in her head and enjoyed the sensations he was causing. After a few moments, he stopped and she looked down at him, an uninvited pout on her lips. He looked up at her and smirked before capturing her lips in another passionate kiss. While their mouths battled, she wiggled her way out of her pants, leaving only her panties.

His lustful gaze caused her grin smugly, giving her more confidence. She moved back away from him and slid down his body again; she reached his pants and unbuttoned them then moved her body against the hardness restrained by his pants. She pushed his shirt up and placed a line of hot teasing kisses just above his waistline. He bucked his hips as she found one extremely sensitive spot on his right hip. She looked up at him again and smiled at the unrestrained lust in his eyes, she liked that.

She pulled down his zipper and removed his pants quickly, and he kicked them aside, and they were quickly followed by his underwear, and her panties. Grinning she pulled herself into his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist. He sat up and buried his face in her neck shapely neck as he wrapped his arms around her back. She moved up slightly and slid herself down onto his length. She let out a small gasp as he entered her completely.

Feeling her fingernails bite into his shoulder he paused, letting her get used to him. She was no virgin, but her sexual escapades were few and far between, and it had been much, much too long. She shifted to get into a better position, prompting a groan from Kakashi. He glanced up at her and whispered hoarsely, "Keep that up and I won't be able to restrain myself"

She blinked, grinned, and then captured his lips in a kiss and shifted her hips back away from him, then slid herself back down his length, settling back in his lap, completely impaled on him, "Like that?" she responded.

Grabbing her hips he forcibly moved her back and forth on his length as he gave her a few sharp thrusts, "Just… like… that." She moaned and leaned into him, pressing her body fully against him and letting one hand ball into a fist in his silver hair and the other grab onto his shoulder.

"I like that… I want more." she responded.

It was all he needed, it had taken all of his considerable willpower not to take her the second she was unclothed. He grabbed her hips harder and drove into her hot depths. He was sure he'd never felt anything so amazing. The way she felt around him was heaven, the way her muscles tensed when he would thrust in deep made his mind turn to mush, and the sounds she made. He had never heard a woman make some of those noises, and it only made him want to give her more.

As she rode him with desperate abandon he felt his climax approaching, quickly. He moved one of his hands from her back and slid in between them, reaching down between the apex of her thighs, seeking the pearl of nerves there. When his fingers found what they were looking for, she gave a small squeak of surprise. His fingers played with the sensitive nub causing her to convulse with pleasure.

"Oh" she whimpered and moved her hips against him with new fevor, "God" he could tell she was close.. "Kakashi!" she gasped breathlessly, her mouth remaining open and her head falling back after calling his name as she went over the edge. The muscles of her womanhood clenched around his shaft, causing him to loose the control he had left. With several more hard thrusts he joined her in ecstasy, crying out wordlessly.

The two sat there in the rain, completely entwined, catching their breaths. She tilted her head down and pressed her forehead against his. She lazily closed her eyes and struggled to force her breath back to normal. When she opened them again, she was surprised to see him staring at her intently.

"Thank you" she whispered and then leaned her head against his shoulder, the physically and (more so) emotionally exhausted kunoichi fell almost instantly asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Hello readers... sorry about the ridiculously long delay in updates. Yes, I am still working on this story, other real life related things have prevented me from writing this. Thanks again to all who have reviewed and those who will be reviewing in the future. Much love. Also, I encourage you all to write your own KakaTen, I love to read as much as I love to write.

~ja

**Unanticipated Storms**

**Chapter 10**

An insistent gray dawn prodded her awake. Rolling onto her stomach her nostrils flared as she took a deep breath and inhaled the rich mossy scent of the forest after rain. The brown-haired kunoichi grumbled drowsily, "Don't want to get up"

A cold drop of rain on the back of her neck caused her to sit up with a jolt, her dark eyes stunned. She glanced around quickly, momentarily confused that the woods around her was not her apartment and that drop was not from the leak in her ceiling. Dawn found her in the middle of the woods, situated in a damp bedroll on top of a bed of moss, definitely **not** her bed. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead on her knees, replaying the previous night's events over in her head.

_Idiot. Idiot. Idoit._ She scolded herself, banging her head against her knees to accentuate the point.

Not only had she had a complete breakdown, probably blown their cover, which was bad enough, but she had also let herself fall victim to a stupid, impulsive desire. _Well, I'm sure you're not the only girl who's had a one-night-stand with Hatake Kakashi_. _That's all it was nothing more not even a little you were vulnerable and he was there, nothing to freak out about, just go back to being professional! Right? Right! That's what I'll do. Who cares if he's seen all your defenses down, he won't tell, right?_ She nodded to herself and with a sigh; she pulled herself out of the bedroll, and discovered that she was still undressed.

"Oops." She muttered to herself and let a little sheepish laugh escape her lips. Glancing around the impromptu campsite, which was suspiciously lacking a certain silver-haired shinobi she found her pack. She pulled on a pair of loose dark pants and a dark gray sleeveless shirt with a high collar, somewhat reminiscent of the bright Chinese inspired outfits she wore when she was younger.

Just as she was pulling her hair into her twin buns, Kakashi, who was now dressed in his usual attire, strolled into the little clearing.

"Morning" she mumbled, trying to avoid eye contact.

He glanced over at her; his dark eye lazily examining her body language. She frowned at the knowledge that he was studying her and wondered what conclusion he'd come to. After a moment he nodded, and took his hands out of his pockets and approached her, causing her stiffen more than she would have liked to.

"Time to go" he said quietly, his face carefully emotionless and then reached down and scooped up his pack that was sitting next to hers.

She nodded wordlessly and hurriedly prepared, doing her best to break camp quickly and avoid looking at Kakashi, who was now leaning against a tree, watching her every movement. Within a few minutes she was packed and ready to go. Her last action was to tie put her forehead protector in place with a satisfied sigh.

Slipping the last of her weapons into place she glanced up and said "Ready, where are we heading anyway?" brightly, trying to bury her embarrassment underneath a mask of cheerfulness. He didn't nod or respond; he just turned and led the way through the thick forest.

The woods here was very thick, she didn't remember seeing anything like this very close to the hotel they had been staying at. Puzzled, she glanced from Kakashi's back to the foliage, wanting very much to know where the hell they were. Her mind hopped from wondering where they were, to where they were going, to what happened the night before, to worrying about the implications that would have if that bit of juicy gossip got out back in Konoha. So distracted was she, that she didn't notice his slight limp, or the way he favored his left side.

* * *

_….Hours Earlier…._

_The rain was still beating down obscuring Kakashi and the sleeping girl in his arms, but he knew it was only a matter of time before the people they came here to stop put the pieces together and came after them, and he intended to be as far away from this place as possible when that happened. Though, for the moment he didn't want to move, despite the turmoil of the night, he felt more comfortable and at peace with this tomboyish, slightly unbalanced, somewhat obnoxious, beautiful, graceful girl in his arms. Though he knew the peace wouldn't last, the world would start turning again soon, and the world was currently a very dangerous place._

_Gently, he untangled himself from Tenten's sleeping form, surprised that his actions didn't wake her. "Deep sleeper, neh?" he whispered with a small grin as he brushed some of the strands of hair away from her face after situating her beneath a tree to try to shield her from the rain. The rain was coming down hard, and he could see despite her deep sleep, she was shivering. Glancing around he tried to locate her clothes, but after a few minutes gave up the search. With a small frown he simply draped his shirt over her. _

_He sped off hurrying to their room to gather up what gear he could find, as quickly as possible, and then return to her, and get them both the hell out of this place until they could figure out a better plan. _

_It only took him a matter of a few minutes to gather their gear, leaving the expensive, albeit useless finery behind, with the exception of some very nice lingerie that he found stuffed in the bottom of Tenten's bag. Just as he pulled the mask over his face with a small sigh of relief the hairs at the back of his neck stood on end and he could feel that same oppressive feeling of hate that had been following them since they entered the small city._

_Dropping into deep stance he slid both his bag and Tenten's to his back and moved quickly and silently to the doors leading to the outside, hoping to slip away before he was noticed. Holding his breath, he slid open the door. His dark eye scanned the darkness and found a lone figure standing barefoot in the rain like a statue on the far side of the private hot spring. Slight of build with a calm expression over his catlike features, a small figure for so much hate. _

_"Kuso" he muttered under his breath, knowing any chance of slipping away unnoticed had just dissipated as quickly a morning mist._

_"Good evening, Hatake-san" came a soft voice that send shivers up the experienced ninja's spine. _

_Frowning, Kakashi slid the door open further and straightened, sliding one foot behind him in a casual, but guarded stance, fixing the man on the other side of the pool with a stare, "Ah, I suppose it is. ."_

_"Gomen, but I can't allow that, you and your very pretty partner will not be leaving this place", came the quiet, bone-chilling response._

_Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he suddenly shifted his weight and threw himself forward, hoping to catch the figure on the other side of the pond off guard. He brought his hand together and formed a series of seals with blinding speed._

_A twisting serpent of water burst from the surface of the hot springs and flew toward the man standing casually on the rocks on the other side of the hot springs. The figure dashed aside at the last second and sprung at Kakashi. _

_There was a flash of pain behind Kakashi's eyes as a pair of bare feet planted into his ribs, knocking the wind out of him. 'Too fast…' Kakashi thought to himself as he rolled, trying to displace some of the inertia from the blow and skid to a stop. _

_Once he stopped himself, he pushed up his headband, and whispered "..Sharingan"_

* * *

After several hours of walking in silence she suddenly blurted out, "Kakashi-san, I um just wanted to say, about last night… umm, I think it would be best if it just stayed between you and I."

His footsteps stopped falling in front of her; andhe turned and pivoted smoothly, so that she ran into his chest, letting a surprised 'sqeak' escape her lips. She looked up at him and for a split second saw an emotion play across his face that she couldn't define before his carefully schooled expression of lazy indifference fell across his features. He took a step back and studied her for a moment.

"If that's what you want, I won't say anything." He said, finally and she found herself wondering what he would have done if she hadn't said anything.

"Thanks, its just, you know how _they_ are…"

"Yes, I do know how _they_ are"

Turning and continuing through the dense underbrush, Kakashi sighed and rubbed his ribs, knowing that the skin beneath was covered in one solid bruise and that he probably had more than one broken rib. He only hoped that they wouldn't encounter all that much resistance before their backup arrived. Before Tenten woke up he'd sent Pakkun with a message to send some support, which he hoped included a medical nin. However, his injury wasn't the only thing troubling him, it bothered him that she was so embarrassed at having been with him; and it bothered him more that it bothered him.

Dappled light shone through the thick trees and gave the world a surreal quality. It seemed that the forest here dampened noise completely, because the sound of their footsteps on the mossy ground made almost no sound. They also didn't hear the enemy until it was almost too late.

A shuriken whizzed past Tenten's left ear, if she hadn't turned her head to look as she adjusted one of her kunai holders, she would have most probably died instantly. She sprung into action, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Kakashi was doing the same. The pair of ninja took to the trees.

Unfurling a small scroll from her hip, Tenten bit her thumb and smeared bright red blood over the thin material, summoning a dozen mean looking blades. She grinned and with a flick of her wrist so fast that a normal eye would never catch it she made several seals and sent half a dozen blades soaring in the direction that the shuriken had come from. As the blades hit the trunks of trees, not one actually hitting flesh, though she never intended them to, they exploded into thick, black, choking smoke.

Crouching on the branch she occupied, she waited. She had lost sight of Kakashi when he reached the leaves of the tree next to her, but knew he was there, waiting, just as she was. Soon, her ploy worked, 2 ninja wearing oni masks jumped out of the smoke, heading straight for her. Resisting the urge to jump away the instant they starting moving towards her, she bided her time.

When they were 3 quarters of the way to her, she threw another half dozen of her blades, this time with explosive tags on them, and aimed them between thm, she made a seal when the kunai reached between the two, the weapons exploded in midair, forcing the two ninja to separate or be hit by the blast.

"Perfect" she whispered with a smirk.

Whipping out a slightly longer blade, she dashed along the tree-branch, following the escape of the one ninja to the left. He was quick, but she was fairly certain she was quicker. Before she reached the trunk of the tree, he was after her again. He was on her in an instant, they exchanged a vicious series of blows, and she gauged they were fairly even in skill.

As he made an attack with on hand, he made a seal with the other and shot a blast of light into her eyes, momentarily blinding her. She stumbled backwards and barely managed to bring up her sword to parry the strong thrust of a kunai at her throat, but she managed it, and shot out with her free hand at one of the masked man's chakra points.

While she couldn't see the man's chakra system, when one spent enough time around Hyuuga Neji, one learns where the most effective ones to strike quickly are; and while she would never rival her teammate's skill at shutting down chakra systems, she knew enough to do some damage. She had the first hand experience of getting her chakra points closed enough times that she knew the concept better than most shinobi ever would.

The man infront of her grunted, obviously surprised by her attack. Though the surprise didn't last for long. He swung around and brought his leg up in a quick, snapping kick, she dodged under it, only to be caught by a second, much more devastating kick that she didn't expect. It pushed her a few feet and she winced as she felt a rib crack, she screwed up her face for a half moment, then pushed the pain down, the time to acknowledge pain was in the hospital, after a battle, where lots of pain medicine was readily available.

With a feral little growl she grabbed the offending leg and drove her chakra-infused blade into it, just behind the calf muscle. The man's awkward position didn't allow him to counter immediately; he let out a strangled yowl of pain as she dragged her blade down his leg, making a deep gash all the way to the bone, separating the muscle from its connecting tendons.

She grinned dangerously, enjoying the surge of adrenaline at the fount of blood from the man's wound and the fact that he still managed to try and counter, his attacks already weaker than they had been. He was now trying to fight her on one foot. He was already dead; he just didn't know it yet.

Kakashi watched from his hidden perch as Tenten, drew out the enemy and stared them down without flinching, most ninja would have hidden, waiting to split them, not use themselves as bait, and she didn't even use a shadow clone to do it. When the two split, dashing in different directions to avoid the blast, he would make sure that one now headed in his direction would never make it back to help his partner.

A jolt of pain from his leg shot up his side, reminding him of the battle the night before he had barely managed to escape. He ignored it as he leapt from the branch he was hiding on. The enemy was just below him now, and was starting to turn back towards Tenten, who was exchanging blows with the other oni-masked ninja.

Kakashi would not allow that. He attacked from above, charging chakra into his kunai; he struck at his opponent who, after freezing for a moment from shock, suddenly seemed to remember that there had been more than leaf ninja when they attacked. _Idiot_ thought Kakashi as his blade bit into the other man, only to have it disappear in a puff of smoke.

His eyes widened as he continued to fall, coming to rest on a branch below him. A scream from above drew his attention, he glanced up to see Tenten several yards away, with her sword stuck into a man's calf muscle with a grin on her face that send a shiver up his spine. _Kind of scary… but, kind of sexy at the same time… I have issues …_ he thought to himself, watching the other mans blood spray onto the brown haired woman's face.

Suddenly, his reverie was broken as he was attacked from the shadows, with super-heated jets of steam. This one perhaps was smarter than his partner above. Leaping to the side, he avoided the worst of the attack, despite some slight burns on his left arm and hand. While in mid-air he formed a series of seals and spun around and delivered a swift lightning blade to the man's chest.

The smell of burning assaulted his nostrils before he got a good fix on his opponent with both eyes. The oni-masked ninja was on one knee grabbing his right shoulder. Kakashi grinned, rushed forward and dispatched the man quickly, with a kunai through his throat. With a sigh of relief, he took a moment to press his hand against his thigh, it came away sticky with blood, his own. He frowned; they needed this to be done, quickly. Putting his injury out of his mind, he cast his eyes up to a higher branch where his partner was getting ready to finish her opponent.

Tenten pulled the blade from the oni-masked man's leg and he stumbled backwards, she stood her ground, resisting the urge to put her hand up and brace her injured ribs. She the frustrated feral growl from behind the mask and grinned wider, he knew now, in what deep trouble he was in now.

She had always been taught, she should never underestimate an opponent; she slid one foot behind the other, giving the injured man less of a target to hit should he choose to strike out at her. She held her blade in front of her defensively.

She waited. When he didn't move at her, she decided to take the initiative and rushed forward, her blade pulled back, ready to swing in a killing arc. She was no more than 3 feet from the man when she felt her footing give way, her eyes inadvertently flicked down to the branch below her, there was a paper seal she didn't recognize plastered on the branch with what looked like a thin oil.

It exploded in a scalding oily blast. Tenten's eyes widened and threw her arms up to protect her head and chest from the worst of it, but that was the only defense she could manage before was blown across the forest canopy and slammed into a tree-trunk, hard.

The dazed kunoichi slid down the tree, fighting for consciousness. She could feel the hot oil biting into the skin of her bare arms, burning its way through her clothing and her world was only pain.

Kakashi looked up just in time to see the branch explode with Tenten in the middle of it.

"Shit" he growled and leapt back to avoid the falling wreckage and the worst of the heat of the blast.

Immediately, he started scanning for her, not sure if she'd been able to avoid it, but judging by how committed she was to the charge, he doubted that. He didn't see her falling along with the splintered tree branch. Frowning he started scanning the area around the blast radius. The oni masked man who Tenten had been fighting was nowhere to be seen.

A sickening thud of a body hitting something solid, and a bitten off yelp of pain gave him his answer a second later. His eyes trained on the spot and he hurried there as quickly as his own injury would allow. By the time he got there he could see her falling, with no attempt to stop herself.

His stomach leapt into his throat, seeing the awkward angles her limbs were splayed in as she fell, and realized he wouldn't make it there in time to catch her and stop her fall before the forest floor would break her fall and her with it.


End file.
